Into the Rabbit Hole: Story Ideas
by Paladeus
Summary: Various ideas and drabbles for stories that are available for use by anyone willing to follow the guidelines. Some are starter chapters for my challenges available from my profile in my Forum. Most are H/Hr/L. Ask if you want to change anything.
1. It's Santa! Quick! Get His Bag!

**Title:** Champions of Lilith

**Chapter1** – It's Santa! Steal His Bag!

**Ship:** H/Hr/L, Nev/Susan

**Key: **"Speech"**, **_'Thoughts'_,** "Speech laden with magic"**, §Parsletongue§

**Genre:** Dark Comedy – This will be filled with comedic moments, but have a darker tone of story.

**Rating:** M – Mature: Harry, Hermione and Luna will take proactive measures to kill the bad guys, sometimes in very messy ways. They were all three in a relationship before going back, so will be as soon as they return and will have sex (though not immediately). There will be assassinations, executed by the trio. **The story is meant to have a darker history, but more comedic second go-through and be a fun, fluffy, romantic and even naughty romp.**

**Challenge**: Yes

xXxXxXx

**[Full Summary and Details:]** - This is the first chapter I've written for my own challenge "Champions of Lilith". Details can be found on the forum in my profile and anyone may take up this challenge, even taking this first chapter to use. The Harry/Hermione/Luna relationship must remain the same, as must everything brought up in this chapter such as Ron's betrayal and the marriage, which should be done within the first month of summer.

This is set ten years after what would have been Harry's seventh year at Hogwarts. Voldemort has taken control over the wizarding world, and the muggle from behind the scenes, killing off and testing on any magical creature he could find for various reasons, mostly for immortality and making himself better, physically and magically (get all the benefits from all races and none of the drawbacks.)

Lilith, the Fairy Queen, sends Santa, her most powerful fae in relation to controlling time after imbuing him with with the magic and life force of all of her children, to meet with Harry, Hermione and Luna; the last known survivors of any form of resistance against Voldemort. With that much power, he sends Harry, Hermione and Luna back in time under Lilith's orders so they can stop Voldemort and save her children, as she is only alive while they exist, and they were nearly extinct.

This is a strictly gray story, for sure, where Harry, Hermione and Luna were forced to stay in hiding for eight years, only coming out to kill Death Eaters when they could. Hermione's parents tortured, killed and left as a message to Hermione, even from Australia after Ron turns against them.

Slightly Manipulative!Good!Dumbledore, Evil!Ron, Evil!Ginny, Evil!Molly, Good!Asshole!Snape

**WARNING:** Slight changes to Canon book seven and then everything that happens from the point of Ron leaving Harry and Hermione. Lots of lemons, assassinations and murder. Some torture of bad guys and lots of sexual innuendo, pranks and scaring the heck out of baddies. I say no forced naughties with the main characters, that doesn't count towards when Luna plays rough and wants to tie up Harry. Changes from Canon will be explained in-story in chapter. Mostly, it's that Ron never comes back and Luna is saved by Harry and Hermione before the Snatchers get her.

Full explanation of time line and their "history" in the last half of the chapter when they give full disclosure.

The idea for the Potters to have been burglars borrowed from Rorschach's Blot.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter or any other crossover I may intentionally or unintentionally create. By reading this story, you understand this disclaimer and understand that it holds true for this story in whole, and in part, throughout the _entirety_ of the story from this location or any other in which the story itself is placed, regardless of a disclaimer being on future chapters.

**Recommended Story of the Chapter:** "Partially Kissed Hero" by Perfect Lionheart (H/Hr/L, about to turn Harry/Hermione/Luna/Susan Bones)

**xXx STORY xXx**

Hermione stretched her neck and cuddled against Harry, her lover of the past seven years as they read one of his family's books on enhancement rituals. It had been a book that they had found underneath of Potter Manor, hidden in a large vault filled with antiques and ancient tomes far beyond what she had ever seen even within the vaunted library of Hogwarts before its fall.

"It's a shame you took our virginities a long time ago," she groused to Harry, pointing at the book with a sarcastic frown. "This one would have increased our power nearly ten times."

Harry nodded and squeezed the lovely brunette in a hug. "Yes, it's certainly one of the more powerful ones we've found. But I wouldn't have given it up for anything."

Hermione smiled up at him and they kissed deeply as she hummed. "Smooth, Potter. Talk like that may make you lucky tonight."

"Lucky?" A curious voice called out as its owner, a blonde woman with pale, blue-gray eyes fell into their laps with a smile as she sprawled out on top of them. "Who's getting lucky? Can I help?"

Harry laughed and kissed Luna while Hermione scoffed and pulled out the book from underneath the younger witch. "Oh, honestly! You know very well you're helping," Hermione huffed, placing the book over top of the lounging witch and smiled down at her. "I've been a very bad witch today and will need to be properly punished, after all."

"Actually, we found more ritual books in the Vault and was just looking this one over," Harry said, using the adopted name for the hidden room they had found and stroking Luna's hair as she closed her eyes and listened.

"We?" Hermione asked with a raised eyebrow. "I specifically remember one of us fiddling with the enchanted rope and trying to climb it to the ceiling." Hermione eyed Harry as she felt Luna giggle underneath her arms. Both girls knew Harry had found that silly rope to be amusing. He had even conjured a wicker basket for it to rise out of so he could play the flute he had received many long years ago from Hagrid and then climb the bloody thing.

"Well, Hermione may have been the one to find it," he amended, "but still."

"Who would have thought your family had so many books on rituals and power-boosting magics?" Luna asked rhetorically. "They had always been hailed as some of the most powerful of the light families. I suppose now we know why."

"That, and the fact that the Vault was like a hidden lair where some rather powerful magics and magical items were stored," Hermione agreed. "I still can't believe your family was a secret bunch of cat burglars." Hermione shook her head while Harry shrugged.

"Hey," he said, looking down his nose and making his eyes twinkle. "That cache of books and goodies goes back a couple dozen generations. It's kept us from going bonkers for the past year. I'm willing to hold a little family pride in exchange for that."

Luna giggled as she pulled out a small box she had shrunk. "I even found the precursor to today's animated children's toys. There was a whole chest filled with dozens of races and even more of each one and all of them were literally begging to be played with." She looked Harry deep into his green eyes, ensnaring him with her wiles. Granted, she could ask from the other room and get the same answer, but it had to be done in a more fun way.

"Will you play with me? I can be the evil dictator bent on world domination and you can be the Hero."

Hermione snorted and flipped her page. "You just want an excuse to drag out that huge, golden throne Harry found down there so you can have a reason to sit on it."

"Every Dark Lady needs her pretties," Luna replied primly, causing Harry to laugh.

"Sure! I'll play with you, Luna. It'll be like that game of Risk we stole from Oakham after it fell. Wanna play Hermione? You can be the spy in both our ranks," he asked with a cheeky grin.

Rolling her eyes, Hermione sniffed and turned the page of her new book resolutely. "I'm very much entertained here, thank you. You may enjoy reading about only a few interesting topics, but I enjoy reading much more."

xXxXxXx

Harry stood and watched in no small amount of terror as creatures that he had never seen before demolished his entire army after a calm and ominous order of, "_Release the Snorkacks_," from Luna. As if apparating onto the expanded game board, the creatures that he learned had a penchant for remaining invisible appeared and began to decimate his army.

"Whu?" He spluttered as Luna calmly walked towards him with a 'liberated' scepter, that looked suspiciously like an original piece of the Crown Jewels when there had been a theft scare, that she had found in the Vault. "How did they use magic? I thought all we could do were give orders!"

"There's a wonderful tome in the Vault about Snorkacks that I've already read three times, actually," she said as she quietly conjured a large bed and then, as his last man fell, she magicked him onto it and conjured bindings on his wrists and ankles. "But enough talk. It's time for the fallen to learn their place." Finished speaking, she gagged him and began to unbutton her yellow shirt, well, it was his shirt, but pilfered for the occasion and worn for just this occasion. Hermione had learned six years ago that Harry enjoyed watching them undress. Hated it when they stopped, though. Odd that.

Harry silently thanked Luna for the ease in which she got bored. They had all gone through the large library within Potter Manor when they first arrived eight years ago and had focused highly on their knowledge in a vain hope that they could learn enough, fast enough, to help those who they could and destroy Voldemort, who had taken over the Ministry at that point. But it had been fruitless.

Well, almost fruitless. By the year and a half mark, they had all but run out of things to do aside from learn, and that got boring rather quickly, even to Hermione. All three had been spending so much time alone with each other that natural feelings progressed and mere months after arriving, they had all begun an odd sort of relationship filled with cuddles, friendly kisses and the occasional not-so-friendly kiss that was a little more heated after so many months of close confinement in a small tent during their Horcrux hunt. When they began to get bored, it had not been much longer for them to learn there were other fun pursuits men and women got to.

Of course, Luna's sudden question of, "why do we huddle at the table at night instead of having sweaty, dirty sex, anyway?" had probably got things going much more quickly, if he were to be honest with himself.

Just as Luna got half way down her buttons and began to stalk towards Harry with an impish grin, the fireplace in the foyer that they played in, so that the Risk board could be expanded to a proper size, grew and Luna spun while getting rid of the bed and gag while Harry wandlessly summoned himself a spare wand that worked best for him from the Vault. He did not need it, but it did help with most spell casting, so it was good to have. He still missed his Phoenix and Holly wand though.

Both stood and waited as Luna summoned a warning bell through the house, alerting Hermione that they may be under attack, this particular one letting her know where to go. When they had arrived at the house eight years ago, they learned that even the Ministry could not find them, much like Grimmauld Place, and had begun to do weekly drills to make sure they could handle an ambush as efficiently as possible. Even now, they did not let their guards down. It was actually Hermione who constantly yelled out "Constant Vigilance!"

Mere seconds after becoming ready, a large man in a red suit fell onto his butt in the middle of the fireplace and then literally bounced outwards to land on his feet. He was a little shorter than five feet and had a long, white beard and white trim on his suit with a large sack thrown over his right shoulder and wore a pair of glasses with black boots and gloves. The two muggle-raised children blinked in wide-eyed shock as Luna growled in the back of her throat.

"Santa!" Without a moments' hesitation, the blonde ran and launched herself at the man, much to his surprise, and landed squarely on the sack over his shoulder so that both legs and arms were firmly wrapped around it, glaring at the man who looked at her in confusion.

"Quick!" Luna yelled at the other two. "Get him while I've got his bag!"

"You're the brat that kept laying traps for me a few years ago!" Santa said as recognition flashed through his eyes.

"And you're the elf with the bag! Now gimmie!" Luna still had not released her grip on the sack and had fully attached both arms and legs around it by locking her hands and ankles so as not to be shaken off.

Santa sighed, rolled his eyes, and let go, letting the sack drop with an indignant squawk of protest from the blonde who was now underneath of it. Just as he was about to take a step away from her, a bludgeoning hex flashed by his face and hit the wall, obliterating a large section of it and going through at least one more wall from the sound of it. Oh yea! These guys were jumpy!

"Hold it right there," Harry growled as Hermione continued to scan the room and reached out with her magic to check the wards against any other intruders. Luna cackled madly as she began pulling numerous goodies out of the sack so thoughtfully purloined from the Jolly Man.

"It's okay," the ex-Ravenclaw said. "Santa's a fairy creature. That's how he could get past the wards. His alignment is also naturally good, so we don't have anything to worry about. And if we did, we couldn't stop him," she finished, falling in to her waist into the bag to reach for something else and muffling the rest of her words.

While neither of her lovers were willing to trust the new person who had just waltzed right in, they did trust Luna, so they lowered their wands, even if they did not put them away. "So, what are you doing here?" Hermione finally asked.

"I'm on a mission from my Queen, Lilith," he responded, his baritone voice filling them with happiness and good spirits while his actual words caused Luna to look up in shock, blue tensile strung around her ears. "If you'd like to listen, she has a proposal for you that would help everyone out and fix a lot of problems."

Neither of them knowing nearly as much about fantastical creatures and the like as Luna did, though Hermione recognized the name vaguely, she and Harry looked to Luna who shrugged. "Lilith is the Queen of all fairies. She's known by many names, but frequents parts of Ireland and enjoys the name out of fondness for the people. She's directly tied to all other fairies as their Queen Mother and is, quite easily, one of the most powerful beings on the planet."

Harry turned to Santa and asked, "are you alone?"

Santa nodded. "In more ways than one," he said quietly, confusing the others. "Perhaps we could speak in a more comfortable location? I've had to travel long and hard to make it here without being caught, followed or tracked."

"Oh!" Hermione said in surprise. It had been so long for them to have seen anyone but each other that neither three of them had remembered to entertain guests. "I'm so sorry! Right this way! Dobby!"

Luna followed the others, making sure to keep his sack out of reach of Santa and glaring at him any time he so much as looked at it while Hermione requested drinks from Dobby; tea for them, milk for Santa, and cookies all around. When they reached the sitting room, they all sat down, though Luna stayed in the floor to look through the spoils of war. She only called them that because there was no way in hell he was getting that bag from her without one now!

"You've gotten worse," Santa said to Luna, but smiling all the same. Being around her right now filled him with more good cheer than he had felt in nearly a decade.

"I'm sorry? How do the two of you know each other?" Harry asked a breath away from Hermione.

"Oh, I never told you?" Luna said, honestly surprised. "He visited me as a child and I knocked out one of his elves and stowed away on the sleigh."

"You nearly took over the North Pole, too!" Santa said, frustrated as he recalled the majority of the visit. His own elves had laid out traps for him! He had been forced to hide out in the reindeer stalls with Blitzen, and that little bugger farted like nobody's business!

Luna waved him off airily. "Only a little," she mumbled before diving back into the bag.

"What can we help you with?" Hermione asked, wanting to get to the heart of the matter.

Santa sighed and tilted his head back, deciding on where best to begin. "This war is over, no matter how we want to look at it. Voldemort has been capturing fairies these past couple of years and experimenting on us, trying to find the exact secret to our longevity. He and his cohorts have decimated over eighty percent of my kind while doing similar things to other magical races."

"That's horrible! What on earth could he want that for? He's got horcruxes!" Hermione asked, outraged.

"It's as much our magic as our longevity, I think," Santa responded. "Regardless, we are being rounded up and he's doing the same to all magical beings, hoping to find a way to mix them all together for their strengths while removing their weaknesses. We think he is hoping to make that new body he plans to inhabit truly immortal."

"I'm sorry, but what has this got to do with us?" Harry asked, looking at Hermione and then Luna, who had finally found something highly reflective and with lots of baubles to play with while she sat next to him and got into the conversation herself.

"Tell me. My stories about going around the world and gifting children with toys are true. What would that take to be able to accomplish?" Santa asked.

"Well, in theory, you'd need to move at incredible speeds or, since we know you don't hit every child's home, you don't have nearly as many as is shown in stories," Hermione said, looking thoughtful.

"Or, you'd need to move through time, rather than within it," Luna said, trying to balance her new toy on her nose.

"Oh! That's right!" Hermione gushed. "There's a book in the Vault written by a man who called himself Perfect Lionheart! In it, one of his characters actually stated, 'time has virtually no meaning around the fae. It can flow backwards or forwards, fast or slow or even sideways sometimes'." She paused only a moment to scrunch up her nose. "How can time move sideways?"

Harry chuckled as Santa nodded and continued his story. "That's right. I am my Queen's most powerful fae in matters where Time is concerned. Moving sideways through time is liking having two time streams in one, where something is duplicated or where I am one being, but in several places at once at that same time, even though it looks like there are many of me. I'm here to do something very similar to that. What my Queen proposes is that I send you back as far as I can to allow you to right wrongs and fix this story from ever happening."

"Are you absolutely mad!" Hermione shrieked, her hair standing on end and her eyes wide with her skin having paled drastically. If Harry did not love her, he would have shrieked and ran. "Messing with the flow of time could cause a paradox or the utter destruction of the Space-Time Continuum! That was drilled into me constantly in my third year when I got a time-turner!"

"Sideways, Hermione," Luna softly chastised with a finger in the air and a knowing smirk. "The fae travel through time constantly, even sometimes sending people back and forcing them to live new lives in what should be their pasts. They are exempt from such rules. It is one of their ... _unique_ properties."

"The little hooligan is right," Santa said while nodding. "My Queen gets her power from her children, which are all of the fairy creatures. The more there are, the more powerful she is. However, all of the others get their power from the positive emotions and good will that are broadcast by humans and drifts around the world, eventually getting soaked up by us children fairy. We are creatures of beauty and pleasure. That's why I even bother with presents at Christmas time. That is when some of the strongest, positive feelings come from and some of the darkest as well. That boost in spirit gives us a massive surge in our own sustenance."

"I didn't know that," Harry said. "I just always assumed you eat things like others do. Veggies, fruits, maybe some flowers or what not for the smaller ones."

"We do eat other things, but they do not sustain us alone. When muggles began to expand and destroy our homes and with the murder of our brethren by Voldemort and other wizards, we have been forced to find ways to increase those positive feelings. With the advent of technology, less people believe and there is less and less to go around."

Hermione winced as Santa sighed, having noticed how raggy and worn he looked. "It can't be very ... appetizing ... for you with this war and the many that Voldemort has killed. Especially after he authorized The Purge and they began killing muggles as they found them. I mean, the muggle population is nearly extinct now, to say nothing of the lines of magical people that have been hunted down for not being pureblooded or following Voldemort."

Santa nodded sadly. "Even worse, the more of us die, the weaker the rest become, which means the weaker our Queen is. She creates new fae directly proportional to her levels. She can't make but a few a week right now, and we're being exterminated much faster."

"So, what does this have to do with us? You said you wanted to send us back?" Harry said again, noticing Hermione square her shoulders to become more highly informed and ask questions.

"The three of you, yes. You've learned so much and have some kind of tie to fate with Voldemort that my Queen is allowing me to do this. She will pull the power from all of her remaining children and gather it unto herself, and then feed it to me, along with all of hers. I will live only moments longer after she sacrifices her life for power, but it will be far more than enough to send you back once I get it all."

"She's going to kill herself?" Luna asked, looking frightened beyond anything Harry could ever remember. And that was _after_ having found her underneath one of the Snatchers at her home who were planning on using her for their amusements while her father watched. Harry had officially killed intentionally for the first time that day. He was surprised he did not regret it, even then.

"I thought the Fairy Queen was supposed to live in all times at once! If she dies here, what will happen to her there?" Hermione asked, remembering that little bit of lore from somewhere she honestly could not remember.

"She will be alive when you return," Santa assured the bushy-haired one. "While she is alive in all times and fully cognizant of them at once, this is just one of the many time streams she is aware of. She will know this path leads to her death. But because _this_ is after _then_," he said, referencing the present and the past as best he could for those who didn't look at time the same way he did, "she will be aware, but alive. This will stop any of this from happening, assuming you don't fail, of course."

"What will happen to this reality?" Luna asked.

Santa shrugged his shoulders and frowned. "I have no idea. You'll be in the same time line, but you will be earlier than the current present. So, once you change things, this time line should fade away and become the new one. Or just continue on. My Queen cannot see beyond a little bit from now, so she dies one way or another. But, it will be the exact same in every way to the past you knew, the people will be the same, circumstances and the like. But, it is like you would have wakened from a very long, very horrifying dream that you remember in every horrid detail."

"Can items go back with us?" Hermione asked. "Will we have our same magic levels or the benefits of the rituals we've performed on ourselves? What about if we wanted to take any of the expensive things from now to help pay our way in the past?"

Santa shook his head. "There are multiple ways of sending you back. The one that requires the least amount of power, allowing you to go back further, will be sending back only your minds and nothing physical or different than need be. You can perform those rituals again and gather all of the things you have now again. You know what you may do."

The three looked at each other helplessly for a moment, wondering if this was really too good to be true.

On one hand, they could say no. They could go on about their lives, allowing the remaining millions to die and guarantee that the war will end in Voldemort's favor. They will be tucked safely away, or as safely as possible, in their home and continue to love each other, play with the toys they found and learn things. Unless Voldemort actually created a fae body to inhabit, since they could apparently find them.

On the other hand, they could go back in time, if this was to be believed, giving billions a new chance at life. They could save Hermione's parents, Luna's father, the Order and countless others and all of the things in the home would be there if they arrived. The only threat was of them dying now, rather than in a century and a half or so.

"I am sorry to tell you this, but I have almost no time left. We must make our decision quickly. More of my kind are dying by the minute, which keeps me from sending you back further each time. As it is, I don't even know how far you will go. I've never sent a non-fairy back before and certainly never three of them at once."

Silent communication flashed through their heads with looks and touches and they all agreed. "We'll do it," they said as one.

"Alright. Then remain there," he said, closing his eyes and communicating with his Queen through a mental link all fae shared. That odd blonde still had a hold of his sack, too.

Almost immediately, fairy around the world, what was left of them, dropped from where they were and died in the middle of experimentations as their power was pulled from them and convalesced at a single point in Ireland, only to get sent to Santa who began to glow a bright white. Power hummed in the air and light began to shoot out of his eyes and mouth as it sought a way free of its prison.

The trio of humans hugged each other, silently saying final I-love-you's in their heads as they felt themselves pulse once and then there was a purity of nothingness. No sound, no light, no touch and no thought. Each was aware, but not consciously, as they drifted in nonexistence and shadow until a rush of reality came and enveloped them.

xXxXxXx

Harry clutched at feathers in his hand as Hermione screeched behind him in terror, raising a few octaves in pitch as _his_ Hermione came back and realized they were in the air and heading downwards. He had only a moment to catch himself as they landed in the darkness, quickly noticing that they were at Hogwarts some time and ... riding a hippogriff?

"Get me off of this bloody thing!" Hermione screeched and leapt away from Harry and the foul-smelling man that had been behind her.

Harry dismounted Buckbeak and quickly realized what this was. With wide eyes, he turned to the fugitive on the back of the hippogriff who slipped and fell on his ass with a smile. "Hermione! It worked!" He yelled, running to the girl who finally realized what was going on as Harry rushed at her and wrapped her in a huge hug and kissed her soundly on the lips, swinging the two around in circles much to Sirius Black's amusement.

"Harry!" She squealed happily as he set her down.

"Thank you, you two! I was sure I was a goner that time!" Sirius said, smiling warmly at the two and coming up to them slowly. He had only just met them in person a few hours ago, really, and did not want them to get jittery around him now.

Harry, however, had memories of the man that extended beyond that point in time and rushed up to grab the man in another hug, careful not to kiss him. The man stank something awful! "Padfoot! God I missed you!"

Still smiling, but confusedly so, Sirius hugged Harry back for several seconds before Harry pulled away quickly and adopted a serious expression. Suddenly realizing things had to change quickly. "Sirius, I need some help from you. I know you're going to hate going there, and I don't blame you, but I need you to go to your family's home at Grimmauld and find a locket with a shiny, ornate 'S' engraved on it and then wait for me there until I come to get you. Don't touch it with you hands and don't try to open it and for the love of Merlin, don't put it on! Your house elf will try to stop you, most likely, as well, so you need to take him out of action."

Sirius looked confusedly between Harry and Hermione, wondering what the hell his Godson was talking about. "What? I don't understand. Harry, I don't like that place. I'd rather-"

"No buts, Sirius. I need this. Make sure you tell your house elf there to not leave the building without your permission, and be very, very specific about not letting him talk to anyone while away. Do you understand me? Please, Sirius," Harry finished, looking as pleading as he could.

Sirius was confused as all hell, but willing to help. The boy had just saved his life, along with what appeared to be his girlfriend. He could offer no less. Finally, he nodded his assent. "Alright, Harry. Whatever you need."

Harry nodded and then barked out, "Dobby!" Instantly, a tiny house elf was by Harry's side and then grasped by the shoulder by the boy. "Dobby, this is Sirius Black. He's my godfather and innocent of all charges. Can you help him get to his family home unseen by muggles or wizards and make sure to help with anything he needs? I'll be coming in a few days to hire you into my family of myself, Hermione and Luna, who will be your mistresses, their families and Sirius. Is that okay?"

Dobby listened and received it all with gradually widening eyes. His one dream ... come true .... "Dobby would bare Master Harry's love child to be a part of his family," Dobby said in worshipful tones, making Hermione snort as she tried to hold in her amusement. He had said the same thing the last time around, too!

Sirius had no such restraints. "BWA HA HA!" The man was rolling on the ground and only the fear of straggling dementors kept him from actually yelling the words.

Harry sighed and shook his head negatively. "Er, that won't be necessary Dobby," he said sheepishly.

Dobby nodded frantically and hurried the laughing convict onto the hippogriff, setting them off and to get the first Horcrux to be destroyed that they could not get themselves. After watching them fly away, Hermione heard the first chime from the bell tower and practically had a heart attack. They were going to be late!

The duo rushed to the hospital wing, silently amazed they could make the run of such a large distance so quickly and entered just as their 'past' selves disappeared. The irony of reaching that very point in time was not lost on them.

"How did you two get all the way over there, when you were just over here," Ronald Weasley said, looking like he thought he may have taken a blow to the head. They were close to giving him one themselves. He would need to be given one chance to not become what he was in their time line, or he would need to be eliminated.

"Do you know what he's talking about, Hermione?" Harry asked with a smirk as Hermione smiled back.

"Not a clue, Harry." Chuckling, the two closed the door with half-hearted comments to Ron, telling him to take it easy and recuperate. They were almost down the stairs when Dumbledore found them.

"Ah, lovely night for a stroll, isn't it?" Dumbledore asked with eyes twinkling away like crazy. The two children smirked and agreed, managing to not have to say anything else as the Headmaster walked into the Infirmary.

xXxXxXx

Luna looked around herself and noticed she was in the shower and looked around confusedly. Okay. So she was back. But to when?

Looking down, she noticed her breasts were only little more than mounds on her chest, so it was before her third year, since she had grown two full cup sizes in the summer before her third year alone. And she had nothing there to speak of for her entire first year. Looking down further, she saw her pubic hair was fully untrimmed, but still not overly thick, so that meant it was not the beginning of her second year, which was the year before she had developed a bit faster and almost fully blossomed into womanhood and had begun to grow it. Or at least the growth spurt that year had certainly made her think she had. Either that or Nargles were tricking her again. They were odd like that.

So, it was some time during her second year and in the last half. Not seeing anything else she could use, she checked to make sure she was clean and then got out, quickly using a drying charm on herself. She absolutely loathed the things as they made her feel overly dry, but was willing to use it for the emergency. Seeing there was no one around, as she learned long, long ago not to bathe around her house mates, and that it was well past night time as she entered her dorm room after donning her night robe, she knew it was after her first year. She had not been able to get away with bathing alone until she was in her second year. So that had confirmed her earlier suspicions.

Running the puzzle through her head, she found her trunk and opened it, looking at the title of her course book, only one as the others had all been stolen, and then finally at a calendar to get the date.

"Oh! Goody!" She clapped her hands and then left her dorm room with a smile before she looked at her empty hands and cursed in her own unique way. "Snorkacks! He didn't send me back with his sack!"

Growling in the back of her throat and transfiguring her night robe into her usual sleeping attire from that particular period of time, she continued to stomp out of the Ravenclaw tower in her footy pajamas, not even bothering to latch the back flap closed. As she told her loves multiple times, it simply breathed better this way.

And Harry absolutely loved it.

Still, she marched up to the Hospital wing with a disillusionment charm over herself, partly so she could not be seen by Filch and partly because only Harry was allowed to see that wonderful, flapless back. As she turned a corner, she bumped into the very two she was looking for. Only they could not see her.

"Oomph!" Hermione grunted as she fell on her backside, looking suspiciously at the air in front of her. "Luna, I presume?"

A gentle, disembodied and ethereal voice floated from nowhere ahead of them. "You may assume, Hermione."

Harry and Hermione grinned as Luna materialized before them, smiling warmly and all three spoke as one, "It's good to see you, Love." Unable to help it as delirious happiness bubbled up within all of them, they began to laugh and hold onto one another as it really only just kicked in that they were, indeed, back and that it had not been some weird joke or trick or even nightmare.

It was not long before those laughs became crying and Harry looked around, realizing they were in the middle of a hallway. "Let's get to the Room for a bit," he suggested, getting nods from his companions.

xXxXxXx

Harry held the door open for the two girls as they entered the Room of Requirement and then shut it softly behind them, entering into a room identical to the sitting room that they had all enjoyed at Potter Manor. It was an expansive room, but everything looked and felt warm, welcoming and comfortable with a warm fire burning in the fireplace and a few small bookshelves dotted about for their favorites and whatever they were reading at the time.

"I almost can't believe Hogwarts was ever this calm and peaceful," Hermione said with a sniffle as she and Luna sat down on the couch in front of the fire, just far enough apart for Harry to wedge himself between them and pull both girls under his arms and hugged them tightly.

"It's such a different place without being under Voldemort's control," Luna agreed, burrowing under Harry's arm further.

"I guess the most important thing is to decide how we're going to go about this," Harry said after a comfortable silence enveloped the recently-become-children. "Do we go in at full assault or do we try and play it as close to the original as we can or what? Santa said things could be changed without problems. There's a phrase I never thought I'd say..."

As Harry yawned tiredly, he felt the two girls nod underneath of him. "No matter what, I think we need to go ahead and try to get your parents out of the way. Maybe even give them full disclosure. They can stay at Potter Manor. I'm sure as hell marrying you two before it gets too late this time around, so it's going to be your home now as well," he said firmly, getting giggles and thankful kisses on his cheeks for his concerns.

"I know Daddy will be willing; he would do pretty much anything I asked of him," Luna said as she stared into the fires, finishing in a whisper. "I'll be happy to see him again."

Hermione shuddered under Harry's arm and cried softly. "I would appreciate that, Harry. Thank you. I have to stop them from having the same end again."

Harry squeezed her shoulders comfortingly, knowing Hermione needed it. Voldemort had found her parents in thanks to Ron having betrayed them and telling the Dark Lord where Hermione's parents had been hiding out and what she had done to their memories.

The Death Eaters that had found them tortured them for hours, raping her mother while her father was forced to watch and then torturing him while she watched before eventually killing them both. And then, to top it all off, they had sent the memory strand to Hermione while they were on the Horcrux Hunt and without a Pensieve, so the only way to view it had been to absorb the memory into her own mind.

Ron had actually been the one to send it; his owl, his handwriting and his own note, so Hermione had trusted in it and then was subjected to the memory of the man who gave the memory strand up, thereby forcing the girl to suddenly become aware of how it felt to rape, torture and kill her own mother. A mother who did not even remember their daughter and was only killed as a message to Hermione.

Ron had looked into a mirror and into his own eyes, speaking to the brunette he knew would accept the memory strand just as the note had suggested and told them about his double crossing them; _"This happened because you didn't come with me, Hermione. I wound up not having you, so I had the woman you would become. Tell Harry I said 'hi', and when I find you, you'll be mine. The Dark Lord promised you to me in exchange for Harry. You cannot run from us forever. We'll find you."_

Hermione had been inconsolable for a week, stalling the hunt. She had nearly lost herself while in a severe psychotic breakdown, but Harry had managed to get through to her and finally asked her about removing the memory strand.

Ron had taken a long time to die after Hermione had found him. Harry felt no remorse as he watched his best female friend, who had been his lover for only a month at that point, slowly and methodically, as with all pursuits, kill his oldest friend in the wizarding world, Hagrid excepted.

"What do we tell them if they don't want to hide?" Harry asked, regretting having never truly met the parents of the two girls. While it had been nearly a decade since they had known them, the girls still knew them far better than he could.

"My parents will be the hardest, I think," Hermione said. "But, I think we should offer full disclosure. To them, Luna's dad and Sirius at least. We'll need his help, most likely, and my parents have been willing to go outside of their comfort zone for me since they found out I was a witch. This may be more than they can handle right away, but I think it would be for the best."

She continued on, using the planning as a distraction from her earlier thoughts and memories. "We should also see about getting you emancipated so Dumbledore can't do his thing again."

"He's already blocked those routes, if I remember correctly. I can't get emancipated until I'm fifteen, so I've another year and a half yet," Harry replied with a sigh.

"Not if you get married," Luna said, grinning at the other two. "It has always been tradition that a boy would be considered an adult when he married and took up control over his household. It's been that way since before the Middle Ages as girls were expected to marry around twelve to fourteen. While it was more about the low life expectancy, it has never been repealed as many found it useful." Luna just didn't say it was from perverted old men who wanted their young bodies.

"That's still allowed?" Hermione asked incredulously. By the time they had made it to Potter Manor, anything based on law was ignored as Voldemort was in control over the government at that point, so it was pointless. And even Hermione freely admitted that books regarding the laws of the wizarding world were beyond boring. She had tried. It was disgusting to see what kind of bigotry was in the books, much of it recent and before Voldemort added the truly heinous laws in. Thankfully, Luna grew up in the culture where that information was considered 'basic' knowledge.

"Yes. I would need Daddy's permission, and you your parents'," she said, nodding to Hermione, "but once he is married to at least one of us, he will be fully emancipated and even the purebloods will not fight it as it goes against very long-standing traditions. They constantly use that little loophole to allow their sons to marry into another family and take control at a younger age."

"What about me?" Harry asked.

"You would need your guardians' approval. But if you tell them that it will get you away from them, they are sure to sign the documentation," Luna said with a shrug.

All three grinned and Harry kissed both girls deeply before the events of going back in time and then remembering some of the more horrid events of their lives caught up to them and the three of them passed out on the couch together, which turned into a bed by the Room's intent.

xXxXxXx

The next day, relatively early in the morning, the Room of Requirement acted again of its own accord and woke the sleeping trio early, knowing they had much to get done. Tinkling bells made their appearance and all three woke up, looking about themselves curiously until everything came back and happy grins formed on their faces.

Giggling like mad, all three used the Room's abilities and created a shower to clean each other off, memorizing their newer, 'old' bodies and practicing with their smaller forms, each expecting longer reaches and greater strength than they now had, both physically and magically.

"I can't believe my reserves were ever this low," Harry said with a hint of wonder as they dressed in their previous outfits, magically cleaned of course.

"Well, it stands to reason. We did some of the power-boosting rituals from your home and they naturally grew on their own as we aged. I'm more worried about bad memories bleeding over and causing trouble," Hermione replied, not having to say she was talking about Ron.

"Didn't you find a strong power-enhancing ritual only hours before we came back?" Luna asked, hoping to change the subject to keep Hermione from thinking murderous thoughts. It worked.

Hermione stopped just before they reached the door and turned to Luna with shock written across her face and promptly launched herself at the girl, kissing her firmly and then pulling back with a silly grin on her face. "Luna! You're absolutely brilliant!"

"Yes, I know," the blonde replied with a smile.

"Not to be the naysayer, but wasn't that a sex-based ritual for virgins? Aren't we a little young for that? And three of us instead of two?" Harry asked.

Both girls giggled and kissed Harry on the cheeks simultaneously before opening the door and walking into the hall to head down for breakfast. "Harry, if we get married, then we _will_ have a wedding night where we consummate the marriage. And only the woman had to be a virgin in all technicality, since it is the blood sacrifice of losing our hymen that is the final component of the ritual. Since the blood will be on both of us, we both gain the benefits. You doubly so, now that I think about it."

"Oh," Harry said, blinking rapidly.

Hermione smirked smugly. "Now aren't you glad I like to read more than you?"

Harry spoke in parsletongue and then grinned wickedly as the girls look at him curiously. "Not as happy as the two of you will be," he said, making them both blush profusely.

In an odd sort of synchronization, the two girls spoke as one, "bloody puberty."

xXxXxXx

"What's Loony doing here?" Ron asked grumpily as he sat heavily at the table for breakfast. The trio had brought Luna to the Gryffindor table so they could talk and eat together, seeing no reason to split up now and had forgotten Madam Pomfrey had released him the next morning because she had not wanted to keep hearing his complaints about being hungry even though he had eaten his breakfast. And hers.

"Her name is 'Luna', Ronald!" Hermione hissed furiously, both sticking up for her soon-to-be co-wife and friend and remembering very horrific events that, officially, hadn't even happened yet.

Ron jerked as if she had slapped him and then hexed him with everything she knew for several seconds, opening and closing his mouth wordlessly as he recognized her venomous glare and angry tone of voice. "Geez! Sorry Hermione!"

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to Luna for being such a bastard," she ordered, not letting up on her glare. Seeing she was actually serious about it, Ron mumbled an apology and quickly went to eating, not looking up from his plate.

"It's okay," Luna said, setting her fork down. "I have an owl to send off anyway. I've got a few papers to request from Gringotts and Father." She gave a pointed look to Harry who recognized her intentions and then left, getting fond farewells from Harry and Hermione. Ron's ears turned pink, but he didn't bother even looking up from his plate.

"Well, we leave tomorrow. Are you two packed, or nearly so?" Hermione asked, doing her best to sound normal even though she was ready to kill Ron from across the table.

"Actually, I am going to pack up later tonight," Harry said. "I'm going to ask Moony a couple of questions about Sirius and my parents that I'd like to find out."

"I'll pack tomorrow," Ron grumbled, refusing to look at Hermione. The blasted girl was nutters!

Hermione's lip curled in a silent snarl as he spoke, but she refrained from moving and then nodded. "I'll be doing some work in the library, I think. Maybe copying a few things for reading over the summer," she said. Harry knew she was going to copy some of the spell books from the Restricted Section that they had, as far as they knew, not been able to get while on the run or already at Potter Manor.

xXxXxXx

"Ah, Harry! It's good to see you," Remus Lupin said as he packed away all of his belongings with a small air of sadness and misery. Being a werewolf, he was almost constantly looking for work. His tenure as a Hogwarts professor had actually been the only steady job he had held in probably a decade.

"Your secret got out then, I'm assuming?" Harry asked, knowing it was true.

"Yes," Lupin answered, giving a self-depreciating smile. "It would seem _someone_ let slip the nature of my condition."

"I'm sure I know a few pranksters who can make Snape's life hell for him next year," Harry offered with a warm smile, getting one in return. "But I'm here for a few reasons. One, I actually wanted to offer you a job for the summer, at least, and probably longer. Second, I've got some questions about my family I was hoping you and Paddy can answer after you accept the third and final request, which is to go to Potter Manor and wait for me to bring Sirius there so we, and a few others, can have a very important talk."

Remus blinked for a moment before shaking his head, not even realizing Harry wasn't supposed to know about the residence as of yet. "I'm sorry, Harry, but I can't access the property. I've never been there. Your dad never officially took up the title of Lord Potter and never took me there. Your father and grandparents never lived there because it was too large for just them."

Harry nodded and grabbed a loose parchment from Lupin's desk, writing 'Potter Manor' on it and tapping it with his wand. "Portus," he encanted, making the paper glow a soft blue for a fraction of a second and then fading. "This is a multi-use portkey that will take you into the main foyer. Make sure you take enough food for a couple of days or use this somewhere you can use it to go back. It will memorize the original location and go back and forth."

Remus spluttered for a moment, looking at the parchment being held out to him in confusion. "How did you learn to make this, Harry? That's very advanced and I don't even know of a version that memorizes the original location. You have to put in both locations. It's very advanced magic, besides!"

"That'll be explained later. Are you game or not?" Harry asked with a little more annoyance showing than he would have originally. Having spent so much time with only Hermione, Luna, Dobby and Winky, he had fallen out of the habit of interacting well with others. He hadn't exactly been too suave to begin with, but that had been due to isolation as much as anything. He had still met and interacted with people. The past near decade had been with Hermione and Luna and, anyone else they met just about, were enemies.

"Yes, Harry. I'll be there," Lupin said quietly, taking the parchment. The inner wolf within him had backed down when Harry became obviously annoyed, which was not something that happened often. The only time it happened was when another werewolf defeated him in a fight and proved its dominance, or whoever was before him was much more powerful. It had happened only one other time, and that was when Harry had learned the Patronus and nearly created a fully corporeal one.

"Excellent! And, the conversation is a doozy, so you may want to pack a few bottles of firewhiskey. I'm sure Sirius will need one, you'll probably need one and, well, everyone, really," Harry said, frowning as he realized how 'out there' the conversation was going to become.

xXxXxXx

"I don't bloody care," Hermione growled out, dragging Harry behind her. "You deflowered me once and if you want any chance of doing it again, you're damn well going to make sure you meet my parents properly first!"

Behind them, Luna giggled. "Should I be worried, oh fiancé of mine?"

"Only for my health," Harry muttered darkly as Hermione's parents came into view through the crowd. Immediately, Hermione took off like a rocket and latched onto both of them in a fierce hug. A decade of knowing her parents to be dead and then having them alive, hale and healthy took away years of pain.

Hermione's parents laughed and hugged their daughter, not knowing where the affection came from, but willing to take it. After hugging her back, they looked at the two that stood a respectful distance back and watched with smiles on their faces. "Are you going to introduce us to your friends, honey?" Her mother asked.

Hermione stepped back with suspiciously shiny eyes and nodded, wiping at her eyes and indicating each in turn. "Mum, Dad, this is Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood. They're my best friends."

The two shook the elder Granger's hands and said their hello's while Hermione looked up to her parents, silently wondering if she had really been that short compared to them before. "Mum, Dad, we've got some things to talk about. They're very, very important. Would you mind if we got Luna's dad, let Harry get a chance to get his relatives to sign something and then go to his place?"

Instantly, Hermione's parents' instincts kicked in and their faces grew worried. "Is everything okay?" Her mother asked as her father looked suspiciously at Harry, details of a father's worst nightmare haunting the forefront of his mind and wondering exactly what kinds of talks his wife and daughter had held together the past few summers. It certainly didn't help matters that all of Hermione's letters were about the boy and that they had to get another girl's father involved as well. Two girls, one boy. Dan was sure he was going to commit murder before the day was out.

"Yes, of course," Hermione said with a small laugh, fresh giddiness at her parents' voices coming back to her as music to hear ears. She could almost swear she felt their concern and that alone made her want to cry in relief. "But it's still very important and we need to have this conversation soon."

Dan couldn't help himself. His mind was already filled with thoughts of baby booties and dirty diapers and the sure knowledge that whatever was wrong, the boy was at the center of it and the words were already leaving his traitorous mouth before he could stop them. "Soon as in nine months soon or something else?"

"DADDY!"

"DANIEL!

"LUNA!" All of the Grangers and Harry looked curiously at the smiling Luna who had begun to feel left out and decided to join the fun. "What? I wanted to play too."

Hermione and Harry chuckled, used to the girl's antics by now, though that one still caught them off guard, and Hermione turned back to her parents wearing an amused, but reproachful scowl. "No, Daddy. It's nothing like that."

"Well, we've taken the next three days off so we could spend some time together, so I think we have the time."

As Hermione's mother finished speaking, Hermione turned to Harry. "Would you like us to come with you to Grimmauld?" She asked.

"May as well. We can all go from there to Potter Manor. Luna, why don't you find your dad and introduce everyone? I'm going to get signed off and find you guys. Be right back." With that, Harry took off to where he knew the Dursleys would be waiting while Luna went off to find her father, having been looking at her memories of the day several times the past two days thanks to her occlumency lessons and Hermione was left to ease her parents' fears, most especially her father's.

Harry took a deep breath and walked up to Vernon and Petunia, thanking the Fates that Dudley wasn't going to be there that day, and held up a hand, stopping the man before he could even speak and then started explaining before the man got downright angry. "Hello Uncle Vernon. I wanted to let you know about this," he said, holding up the parchment and a transfigured pen that he would be familiar with, "and let you know that it's a form that agrees to allow me to get married. If you sign it, I will be officially engaged and out of your hair forever. If you don't, then we're stuck together for another four years."

Vernon looked at the boy and narrowed his eyes, confused, but internally dancing over the prospect of getting rid of the freak for good. "Why would anyone wanna marry you, boy?"

Harry barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He had expected a little resistance, but that was a nicer tone than expected. "My world is very backwards compared to yours. This is just so I can be legally considered an adult, which means you won't have anything to do with me after it's signed. Once I'm married, I'll belong to another family."

Vernon snatched the paper and made a grunt as he read it quickly, skimming most of the words and allowing Harry to continue. "I know you want me out of your house and life, and I'm giving you that option now."

Taking the proffered pen, Vernon motioned for Harry to spin around and then put the paper on Harry's back and signed with a happy smile on his face, giving Petunia the pen to sign with. She hesitated only a moment, but decided arguing wasn't worth the effort since Vernon was obviously only too thrilled to be rid of the kid. He was supposed to be there for their protection as much as his, but no one had come for them yet, so it must have been fine after twelve years, right?

"This is fully legit then?" Vernon asked gruffly, not wanting this to come back to bite him in the ass later. "I don't have to see you any more?"

Harry immediately took the paper before anything could happen to it and nodded. "Yes. You may get one last visitor, but that should be it, two at most." He didn't feel inclined to tell them the second was most likely to be someone to kill them slowly and painfully. He would let them find out later. They had literally been treated like royalty for a week when Voldemort found them. Their every wish fulfilled and their every desire granted. After a week of making them happier than they could possibly have imagined, Voldemort had pulled the proverbial rug out from under them and then tortured them for a month for sport, having fed them potions and a good many spells to make sure they would survive it all under the guise of the first week.

Vernon clapped Harry on the shoulder like a man parting ways with a friend, spooking the bespectacled boy more than a little. "It was a pain in the ass knowing you, kid. Now get the hell out of my sight," he ordered, making Harry's face go slack.

_'I'll miss you too, Uncle. Oh! No! Don't worry about me, I'll be fine! Why yes, I DO love the girls I'm going to marry! No, it isn't because I've gotten her pregnant. Bastard. What the hell is wrong with this guy?'_ Harry thought, even as he responded. "Later, Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia." Spinning on his heel, he walked over to the baffled-looking Grangers who were talking to the animated form of Xenophilius Lovegood and Luna, who was stuck like a leech to the man's side.

"Get everything you needed, Harry?" Luna asked.

"Yup. All done."

"To the car!" Hermione called out, making her parents blink. There were six of them!

xXxXxXx

Harry allowed Hermione to get off of his lap and stepped out of the car after her once they pulled into Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. Liberal use of shrinking charms, courtesy of Xenophilius, had allowed them to sit comfortably in the car, much to the Grangers' shock and amusement, and Luna sat in her father's lap while Hermione took Harry's. Her father was not amused, but was put in his place by Emma. Rule number one, which Harry had learned very early in; do as you're told. Dan Granger seemed to know the rule too.

Harry was about to knock on the door when Dobby opened it with an excited grin and bounce. "Welcome Master Harry! Come in! You can be bringing the Mistresses in, too! And your friends!"

Harry smiled and thanked his little friend, being engulfed in a hug from the side faster than he would have thought from a washed, shaved and dressed Sirius Black. "Hello Sirius," Harry grunted out with the little air he had in him. He also noticed the house looked better than it had even in the past while the Order of the Phoenix had been using it.

"Hello Pup!" The older man said happily as the rest of the group piled into the house. "Eh?"

Harry stepped back and began working from his side and then closest to the door. "Sirius, this is Hermione Granger, Daniel Granger, Emma Granger, Xenophilius Lovegood and Luna Lovegood. They're going to be going with us to Potter Manor in a few minutes to have a discussion with Remus. Everyone, this is Sirius Black. Did you find that locket I asked you about?"

Confused as all hell, Sirius nodded as Dobby brought in a large ball of leather and handed it to Harry. "Master Harry, that be having the bad locket inside. It be making Kreacher do bad things, so Dobby wrap it and seal it."

"Thank you, Dobby," Harry said, pocketing the locket and pulling out a large roll of parchment that he unraveled and held out, Hermione and Luna grabbing a hold of it immediately. "If you could all touch this, it will take us to Potter Manor. It's a method of magical transportation known as a Portkey," he explained to the Grangers.

Hermione could see her parents' apprehension, so she spoke up to help them. "It is a little uncomfortable, but it's also the only way to get there right now. It's also the safest place. You'll feel a pulling sensation at your bellybutton, and then we'll be there. Just hold on, alright?"

Once everyone had a hold of it, including Dobby, Harry tapped it with his wand and activated it, sending them all to Potter Manor.

The group landed in a heap in the main foyer, Dan and Emma checking their stomachs to make sure they were still there. "That was certainly unpleasant," Emma said, getting up slowly and looking around the room, seeing an expansive floor made of what appeared to be marble with many wooden and metal accents, pictures of people in rather outdated fashions and ... those pictures were looking at her. "Hermione? Why are the pictures pointing at us and talking?"

Hermione smiled cheekily and pointed the pictures off, telling her mother their names and a brief history about them from memory. They had been nearly invaluable conversationalists when the group had been practically stuck on house arrest for fear of getting caught.

"Harry?" Remus asked from the doorway leading the the center of the house as he saw the large group of people the boy had brought with him.

"Hey Remus. How's it going?"

"Good," the werewolf said confusedly.

Harry ignored the tone of his voice, knowing he would be answering most of his questions soon enough. "Alright everyone. Let's head to the lounge and we'll explain everything that's going on."

Without being prompted, Hermione took the lead and everyone followed her through a few different hallways and into the original sitting room the time-traveling trio had called from the Room of Requirement their first night back. The seats were already in position to seat several more than had come with them that day and so everyone sat while Dobby went off to make refreshments and snacks for everyone, knowing the stasis charms on the pantry and chill chest would have kept things in proper order.

Harry remained standing in front of the group, however. Neither girl wanted to sit away from her parents and, having followed Harry in the war for nearly twenty years in total, relatively speaking, of course, were willing to let him talk.

"Harry? Why's everyone here?" Remus asked, not having known anyone but himself, Harry and Sirius would be there.

"I'm trying to think of the best place to start," he replied with a sigh as he ran his fingers through his hair, a habit he had never been able to break.

"I've always found the beginning of whatever tale to be the easiest," Emma offered. "The rest just seems to flow out of its own accord."

Harry smiled appreciatively and nodded, deciding to take her advice and pulled out his wand, "I, Harry James Potter, do hereby swear on my magic and my life that everything I say while at Potter Manor until midnight tonight is, to the best of my knowledge and memory, true. So mote it be."

After an intense flash of light, Sirius leapt to his feet and and yelled at Harry. "What in the bloody hell do you think you're doing! You could kill yourself just by saying something that could possibly be taken the wrong way!"

Harry nodded calmly, already knowing that. "Yes, I know. But I needed all of you to believe what I had to say."

"I'm sorry," Dan asked, looking between everyone and realizing only himself and Emma appeared to not understand what was happening. "What exactly did he just do?"

Sirius whipped his head back and forth between Harry and Dan and growled at his godson, far from pleased with the boy. "He just took an oath that his magic made binding. If he lies in any way until midnight tonight, he will lose his magic and die."

"What!" Emma screeched. While she didn't understand what was happening, she understood the explanation clearly enough. "How could you be so irresponsible!"

"Mum! It had to be done, otherwise, you wouldn't have believed him!" Hermione explained, making everyone look at her.

"You mean you're in on this?" Emma asked, looking shocked.

"Yes, I was. But there's no helping it. What we have to tell you is so beyond anything rational, even in the wizarding world, that we had to have some way to prove we were telling the truth."

Emma searched her daughter's face and then to the adult wizards and asked, "there's no way around this?"

"No," Sirius said angrily, falling back onto the couch and glaring at Harry who remained unaffected. "It's done already. You had better be very careful, Harry."

Harry nodded as Dobby set down four bottles of firewhiskey, several of butterbeer, water, juice and a small assortment of other goodies. "First, I am going to say that I _am_ Harry James Potter. Son of James and Lily Potter. While my physical body is currently thirteen, my mind is actually twenty-eight. Luna's is twenty-seven and Hermione's is twenty-nine."

Sirius and Remus both dropped the butterbeers they had back on the table and reached for a bottle of firewhiskey each, much to the surprise of the Grangers who recognized, and smelled, it as alcohol, very strong alcohol, after they handed a bottle to Dan. Sirius shook his head and sighed. "Trust me, you two are going to want the strong stuff. Whatever the hell they're about to tell us, it apparently has to do with time-travel."

"Harry!" Remus spluttered, looking between the children frantically. "You can't tell us anything! You can't even change anything! If you do, then you're create a paradox or something else equally horrifying!"

Hermione shook her head and gathered everyone's attention. "No. Normally you would be right, but the Fairy Queen, Lilith, helped us. The rules of time aren't the same as they would be for us and, since they are the ones who sent us back, we followed their rules. We'll get there in a little bit, but we have nearly fifteen years to talk about here. Just listen."

Dan decided to pour him and his wife a bottle of the stuff they were just handed and decided to sit back. Whatever the hell it was, it was better than a pregnant daughter.

"Okay," Harry began anew. "I'm going to give an abridged version of events for now. Once we have the major stuff explained, we can go more in depth with it later." He got a chorus of agreements and so he continued.

"Originally, next year there would be a tournament known as the Tri-Wizard Tournament. It hasn't been done in a long time due to the death rate. Most of those who compete in it die. I was forced to enter by someone entering my name illegally and no one stopping the tournament."

"What!" Sirius shouted, getting pulled back down by Remus and waved off by Harry.

"Let me continue. You can ask your questions later. Anyway, near the end of the year during the final task, I was kidnapped and used in a necromantic ritual to revive Voldemort. Did Hermione tell you about Voldemort," Harry asked the Grangers, not having asked the girl before about it. Getting nods in the affirmative, he continued on.

"The Ministry spent the whole next year discrediting me and Dumbledore and Dumbledore was actively keeping me weak and in the dark about almost everything so that he could use me against him as a martyr, which is what led to the downfall of anything that was good in the world. At the end of the year in which Voldemort was sending me visions, he made me think he had captured and was torturing Sirius," Harry said, pointing at his godfather. "He's my godfather and he knew I'd want to save him. I didn't know what Voldemort was after, but it was a prophecy about me and him and only the two of us could pick it up. He couldn't go in himself for fear of being seen or caught, so he tricked me into going. It was a trap, and Sirius came to rescue me, Hermione, Luna, Neville Longbottom, Ron and Ginny Weasley and then died while fighting his cousin, Bellatrix LeStrange." Harry was forced to ignore the wide eyes and gasps from the wizards in the room, but the elder Grangers were beginning to fall behind.

"Wait," Emma asked. "You're saying all of this is from the future? Is that what he mentioned a moment ago?" She asked, pointing at Sirius who had brought up time-travel.

"Perhaps I could best answer that," a new voice said from the fireplace that was to the side of everyone. Looking over at the newcomer, all eyes widened except for one quirky blonde's, whose narrowed as she growled in the back of her throat.

"Santa!" Like a bat out of Hades, the blonde had ran and leapt the majority of the distance between the couch and Santa, attaching arms and legs around the sack that was tossed over his shoulder as he moved to get out of her way, thus moving the bag directly into her path, which was her entire plan. "Quick! I've got his bag! Get him!"

"Deja vu," Hermione mumbled, blinking at the scene before her.

"Hey! Get off of my sack you little hooligan!" Santa yelled, shaking the bag furiously and making Luna giggle madly as she made surprised sounds with each movement and getting dizzy. It was oddly fun.

"I won this thing fair and square last time, now gimmie!"

With an aggravated moan, Santa let his bag fall, landing on top of the surprised Luna who grunted as she landed on her bum before cackling madly and taking off with the booty.

xXxXxXx

**SUMMARY:**

Rating: M – Mature themes, Violence, Nudity, Language, Adult Situations, Lots and lots of innuendo (see section on lemons and limes for more detail.)

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Parody and Romance

Summary: 

Fairy Queen Lilith sends Santa to Harry, Hermione and Luna after ten years of losing the war to Voldemort and they go back in time to fix it all. Proactive!Gray!H/Hr/L, Nev/Sus B

**Lemons:** This story is planned to have naughties, but not really much. They're simply too young to make it realistic, though the use of aging potions could make it work out. This is what is planned for the wedding night.

**Limes:** Expect lots of limes. My plans are to describe plenty of flirting and innuendo and sexual acts up to 'heavy petting', kissing, etc to the extent of anything found in a rated 'R' movie. And a whole lot of suggestive themes. Basically, anything but out-and-out sex or any penetration. Oral sex, without descriptions, detailing that someone is nude and their reactions and the like are probably the extent of what I write. Sex-based humor is easy to write, funny and they're thirty-year olds in thirteen-year old bodies. Hormones shall be their arch nemesis!

**TECHNOLOGY/MISC INFO:**

Technology is going to be up-to-date. Therefore, I will not go back to check release dates on movies, music (artists or songs) and the like.


	2. I Didn't Want to Remember!

**Title**: I Didn't Want to Remember (Other possible titles: "Memories", "Total Recall")

**Chapter1** - It All Comes Back

**Ships**: H/Hr/L, Nev/Sus B/Han A

**Rating**: M – Darker background behind motivations

**Tags**: Oracle!Luna, Smart!Harry

**Alignments**: Dark!Albus, Slave!Snape (to Dumbledore,) Minion!Minerva (to Dumbledore,) Programmed!Ginny (explained below,) Evil!Stupid!Ron, Evil!Molly, Good!Twins

**Summary**: Draco gets angry and decides to use a spell on Harry to relive his life (hoping to make him remember the life of an orphan) and forces Harry to remember everything from his birth to that moment as if living through it all a second time, locked within his own mind. Scared for her friend, Hermione hugs him in fear and gets pulled into his mind, but not along to watch the memories and meets the personification of his magic.

**[Author's Notes:]** – These are my thoughts for where I may take the story if I continue it and what I would like to see followed if someone wants to take it. Ships must remain for Harry, Hermione and Luna at least.

**Oracle Definition**: As I plan for this story in my notes so I don't forget, assuming I continue it at a later date, it means the oracle can look and watch the future based on various CHOICES made. She could see what would happen in the next day if Harry had orange juice for breakfast or pumpkin juice. The strength of her power related to how far in the future she can look based on those decisions. The farther out she goes, the less specific things get and it's more impressions and short clips of visions of the future rather than watching it like a movie, such as the next day perfectly. The decisions do not need to be made. This IS different than a Seer, who sees points in time that have a major influence in the world and must give it as a riddle rather than straight out Seeing.

Ginny is programmed from birth and groomed to be the perfect mate to Harry (she does not hold interest in other men and does not get with other men in this universe.) She has no desire for any life without her Harry because she's been under compulsions and mental programming her entire life to be his. If Harry wants another girl, she has no problems with that because she will literally do anything he wants and fulfill his every desire. Do with this as you will if you want to take this, but it must remain (also, she cannot be programmed or treated well to become a normal person. She will always remain this way.)

Dumbledore is a Dark Lord, much like Voldemort, and has his own minions like Voldemort's Inner Circle. Snape came for sanctuary and Dumbledore made him take a wizard's oath of loyalty, which Snape did thinking Dumbledore was Light. Likewise with Minerva. Both regret it, but have been unable to break their oaths. (This is to explain why Minerva was watching the Dursleys' home the day of Halloween. Hagrid did not take all night to arrive, but only an hour as it should have taken.) Hagrid is just blinded by faith and trust in the bearded man.

This could also be started third year when Draco mocks Harry for having an escaped convict after him.

xXxXxXx

It was only a few minutes after the welcoming feast in the Great Hall, where Dumbledore announced the beginnings of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, when Harry, Hermione and Ron were slowly getting ready to go to the common room while catching up when Draco and his goons sauntered up behind Harry.

"So, Scarhead! I bet it just kills you that Quidditch is going to be canceled this year and you can't put yourself in the spotlight once again!"

"Shut up, Malfoy!" Ron's anger, as usual, flared up around the slimy git. "He's only in the spotlight because he kicks Slytherin's arse every year!"

"Well, it's quite obvious that he finds some way to cheat, isn't it? He wo-" Draco was cut off as Ron lifted his wand towards him. Harry just managed to grab both the wand, and Ron's hand, to push them off to the side.

"Don't do it, Mate. He just wants us to get ourselves expelled since his father could buy his way back into Hogwarts, no matter how much of a disgrace he is." Harry ended his statement by looking pointedly at Draco, who's face had grown a furious shade of red that would match Ron's on a good day.

"Watch it, Potter! You'll learn to respect your betters or they'll eventually put you in your place once they are ready."

"What betters? You are a mediocre wizard at best, and the only thing you excel in is Potion's, which happens to be led by your Head of House. In everything else, we find that you are a disgrace to your supposed 'blood purity' theory and family," Harry said.

"At least I still have my family, eh, Orphan?" Draco taunted. Hermione gasped and got an angry look on her face while Ron's face just became a darker red.

"At least I, and the rest of the wizarding world, can be proud of my family." Harry turned and motioned to Ron to start walking when Ron's eyes bulged and he heard Hermione yell out.

"Harry!"

Harry turned quickly towards Hermione to see her pointing behind him. He finished his spin to see a furious Draco pointing his wand at him.

"MEMORIA DENUO!" An bright yellow light hit Harry directly in his forehead. He only had time to shake his head before grabbing it with both hands and screaming out in pain.

"AHHHH!"

Hermione and Ron, even a pale Draco, looked on in horror as Harry fell to his knees and screamed again. Dumbledore rushed from the staff table and knelt by him as the other students, and many that were in the halls, rushed back to find out what was going on.

"Harry! What's wrong! What happened here!" Dumbledore looked at the others, and noticed Draco's wand out.

"Malfoy cursed Harry, Professor!" Hermione was the only one to come to her senses. She couldn't take her eyes off of Harry's face as it was tilted back and his screams, by now, had turned blood curdling.

"What curse, Mr. Malfoy!"

"Memoria Denuo! It isn't supposed to do this! It's only supposed to make a person remember their life all over again! I've seen it performed before and that person wasn't in any pain!" Malfoy was beginning to panic. He had gotten angry and cursed Potter in front of several witnesses, and even in front of the staff. There was no way he wouldn't get in trouble for this one.

"No, Mr. Malfoy! It causes them to re-LIVE their life all over again!" Dumbledore turned to Harry and his face paled. There was no way his life could have been so horrifying as to cause this much pain, was there?

"YOU IDIOT!" Everyone's attention snapped to Harry as he spoke, his voice highly amplified by magic, still yelling in pain. "I FORGOT EVERYTHING FOR A REASON! I PUT THOSE WARDS UP FOR A REASON! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE DO-AHHHH!" Harry doubled over, still on his knees, with his arms wrapped around his middle. Hermione, not even realizing she was moving, knelt and wrapped an arm around him, trying to comfort him, thinking it was about to be over.

"Harry, it'll be okay, we just nee-"

"DUMBLEDORE! GET EVERYONE OUT IMMEDIATELY! MY WARDS ARE FAILING!" Tears were leaking down Harry's face as he tried to maintain his magic, but it burst out of him, wrapping him, and now Hermione, in a bubble of magic that had tendrils lick off of the outside like little flames, reaching for anything close by.

**"Hermione is with us? I like her. She will stay with us."** A very young boy's voice could be heard by those in or near the Great Hall..

"DUMBLEDORE! HURRY! GET EVERYONE OUT!" The bubble of magic began to pulse with a resounding thump-thump, much like a heartbeat. Each pulse of magic could be felt by everyone within the castle. To those within the Great Hall and just outside the doors, it was as if they were hit with a very strong blast of wind each time.

"Everyone out of the Hall and to your dorms immediately! MOVE!" Dumbledore had absolutely no idea what Harry was talking about, but Harry had already put out more magic in the last two minutes than an adult wizard should even be possible of containing. He was beginning to worry about the school's foundations and stability to this kind of onslaught. He could feel the school beginning to shake and he felt he had no choice left. He pulled out his wand and tried to stun Harry, hoping that, if he were passed out, whatever was happening would stop. The blast, however, was absorbed by Harry's pulsing aura.

"DUMBLEDORE! GET OUT!" By now, the Hall was emptied except for Dumbledore, Harry, Hermione and the other staff. "I AM ABOUT TO LOSE CONTROL!"

"But Miss Granger!"

**"Our Hermione is safe with us. We need her."** That hauntingly young voice came again.

"SHE'S SAFE! GO!" Harry's voice was obviously showing strain and his desperation for them to leave. Dumbledore could recognize that he had no choice. His magic was being absorbed by Harry's aura. He quickly left, pushing the staff and a protesting McGonagall out of the Hall and shutting the doors, casting a locking charm for safety.

"Albus! We have to get Miss Granger out of there!" McGonagall wasn't happy. She was terrified. She saw Dumbledore's stunner and knew something went horribly wrong.

"We cannot. She is wrapped in Harry's aura and my magic couldn't break through it. I cast my strongest stunner and couldn't even reach it. I am terrified that, if I were to try something stronger, his magic would react even more violently and destroy me and everything around him as a potential threat. We can only hope his reserves die out quickly."

xXxXxXx

Hermione was horrified. She felt none of the magical backlash that was moving things around now outside of the bubble, breaking apart tables and even metal utensils. Inside, was only a screaming Harry and that strange voice. She had tried to pull away, but felt as though glued to Harry's body wherever she touched him.

**"Hello Hermione. Would you help us get better again?"** That voice came back, soft as each other time and calm. As though nothing were nearly being destroyed outside.

As soon as it finished speaking, Hermione felt a tug behind her nose and the Great Hall disappeared, to be replaced by a medium-sized room that was almost sterile in its cleanliness. She could still feel herself against Harry, but she saw a miniature version of him standing in front of her, smiling and standing calmly, looking ahead. It had to have been recently after his arrival as she noticed his scare was fresh. She turned to see what he was looking at and watched as a young, fat toddler hung in mid-air, laughing as though he had lost his mind, and trying to reach out for what had to be around twenty stuffed animals circling around him, going up and down like a muggle carousel or merry-go-round. Her eyes widened as she realized that Harry, Little, two-year old Harry, was performing advanced wandless magic while in complete and total control over it. He wasn't even straining himself.

Hermione heard a shriek from behind her and turned quickly to see a woman peeking out from around the entrance to what looked like a kitchen behind her. She had a horror-stricken face as she watched a startled Harry lose control and turn to her, dropping all of the stuffed animals, and the fat toddler, about two feet onto the ground. Hermione saw her rush to the baby's side as he began to cry. She heard a few pounding sounds and turned to watch a very large man at the foot of the stairs, looking towards the scene in the living room.

"What happened here, Petunia?" The large man grunted out curiously. Hermione flinched as she realized these were the Dursleys.

"That- That FREAK, was holding Duddikens hostage in the air! Dudley was screaming bloody murder and was only let down when I got his attention away from our Duddikens!" Hermione couldn't believe what she was hearing. That woman heard him laughing and only began to cry after being dropped two feet onto the ground! She was making Harry out to be a monster!

Hermione turned back to the man as she heard him stomping towards them, his face a dark purple colour. She tried to step to intervene and protect Toddler Harry, but all she was capable of doing was spinning around and she found herself completely unable to do anything else as the large man stalked quickly over to a cowering Harry, who was backing away, obviously in fear. Hermione stared in horror as the man she knew now to be Vernon grabbed Harry by the arm and twisted it, a sickening crack followed directly after. Hermione couldn't believe she just watched as Vernon broke Harry's forearm, now at nearly a right angle to the rest of his arm and begin yelling. Harry's eyes had only widened and he hadn't even made a sound during the whole thing. Not even while Vernon shook his arm while yelling at him.

"And if you do any more of that FREAK business, I'll take you out back and kill you myself! No go to your room!" Hermione couldn't believe that man just broke Harry's arm and forced him to go to his 'room'. She watched as he went to a door under the stairs, opened it, got in and closed the door.

"Hush, Duddikens." Petunia cooed at her jiggly son. "We'll go and get you an ice-cream and maybe that freak will learn that he shouldn't do freakish things in the house!" The three got their things and left in their car, leaving a horrified Hermione standing in the living room, looking at the door to Harry's 'room'.

"**This is where I was locked away."** The voice sounded somber now. Still quiet.

"Are you the young Harry?"

**"I am **_**me**_**."** The voice sounded a little confused now.

"Who are you?"

**"I am not a who. I **_**am**_**. I will show you me."**

Hermione saw the room shift and was now in an odd place. She was standing by a river that was crystal clear, allowing her to see the smooth pebbles at the very bottom of it, a waterfall that fed into it some forty feet away looked to fill it with a sparkling dust that she couldn't help but think of as stardust. The sky above was completely filled with stars, as if it were a nighttime sky, and something off in the distance that she recognized as the Aurora Borealis. The grass was cool and green beneath her feet, and so very soft. She saw all of the trees around her, their trunks were glowing a very soft amber light, their leaves swaying in the non-existent wind were clear, but glowed with faint hues of blue, green and brown.

"Wh-Where am I?"

**"This is me. I **_**am**_**."** The tiny Harry voice said from out of nowhere, sounded confused.

Hermione looked around for a moment and saw no one. Then it clicked. "You're Harry's magic!"

**"That is **_**what **_**I am. I am **_**me**_**. I was locked away by him during that time I showed you. **_**He**_** remembers me now. But **_**he**_** still won't let me come out."** The voice sounded almost sad.

"What do you mean? Harry uses you all the time." Hermione was confused. It was as if the voice was saying that Harry kept his magic locked away, but she had seen him do incredible things with it.

**"He will only touch me now. He will not let me fill him as we once were. Before, I once filled his whole body. Now, he only allows enough of me to be released that I barely exist within him."**

"I still don't understand. You mean Harry only ever uses a part of his overall magic ability?" Hermione watched as the world changed and she was standing right against the side of the waterfall. Behind it, she could see a small cave, and Little Harry stood within a very small enclosure of solid magic that looked like severely cracked glass that was a translucent blue. He was working frantically, trying to keep the whole thing from collapsing.

"No... can't let it fall! Can't let it fall, can't let it fall!" Little Harry was chanting as he worked, trying to repair the enclosure. He repaired the cracks in what seemed like a reverse of how they formed, filling in to appear like an unblemished sheet of glowing magic while cracks spread from other areas.

"What's the matter, Harry?" Hermione knelt in front of the small version of Harry as he continued to work, not slowing down once.

"My box, it's breaking," the tiny Harry said, sounding plaintive.

"Why is that a bad thing if it breaks?" Hermione hoped to get a little more information out of him.

"When I made my box, I made it so I wouldn't be hated any more. I was going to make myself not able to touch magic ever again, but I almost died, so I had to allow just enough to live. But, it wouldn't leave me alone! It would always grow and try to make cracks when I was hurt and heal me faster and people still hated me!" Tears were falling down Little Harry's face now. "I don't want to be hated! I want someone to love me! But it won't stay fixed!" Harry had worked his way in a circle, patching up the little glass box as the cracks spider-webbed out further and further. Even with his fixing it, the cracks were almost completely over the entire thing now. It would fail in a matter if minutes.

"Harry, you don't have to stay in there now." Hermione was almost completely sure that this was the ward Harry had mentioned. And if it was created to block his magic because of the Dursley's, then there was no reason to keep it up now.

"Yes I do! If I come out, then no one will like me!"

"I like you, Harry." Hermione watched as Little Harry stopped to look at her, as if trying to gauge her sincerity.

"Will you stay with me? Even if they yell at me and call me names?"

"I won't leave you, Harry." Hermione watched as the whole enclosure solidified again, forming the perfect ward and then faded away in little blue particles of dust. Young Harry looked away from Hermione and to his side, looking up slightly as a current version of Harry stood, looking down on him. They looked at each other, smiled, and then both smiled a lop-sided grin towards Hermione.

"Thanks." They both spoke in unison, giving an odd resonance in the cave.

"Who is she?" The little Harry looked to the bigger Harry as he spoke.

"She's Hermione. She's the most important person in the world to us." Big Harry smiled down at his little self and then at a blushing Hermione.

"Um, what's going on, Harry?" Hermione couldn't figure this out. The little Harry was supposed to be Harry, but now there were two, and his magic hasn't spoken up yet.

The two Harry's looked at her. Big Harry was the one who spoke. "Well, I am magic. His magic," he said, pointing to the little Harry. "Well, that isn't totally true. I am his magic, but what you are speaking with is his subconscious. Now that he is free of his own wards, we can be free. I am a part of him as he is a part of me. This was the personification of Harry. That is why he was in the enclosure."

"So, what does that mean exactly? That you are Harry, but, not completely?" Hermione understood the basics of consciousness and unconsciousness, but this was way beyond what she had read.

"Actually, I am more Harry than what you interact with on a daily basis. I am what Harry would be without any inhibitions. No care to lie, cheat, steal or impress. I am a bit more basic. I run more on instincts than the Harry you know, as several of his actions, as with all people, are restricted based on acceptable behavior of society."

Hermione, for lack of a better word, was shocked. This was really too surreal for what she would have expected before, but then, this WAS the wizarding world. "Why do you know so much about this?"

The non-Harry got a look of anger on his face as he spoke. "I was like you once, always wanting to read and do well in school. But, when I did better than Dudley, I would get severely punished. I always read, and would always test myself to know I was still retaining my knowledge, but I couldn't allow anyone to see it. And when I started Hogwarts, my first friend, ever, did poorly as well. I couldn't do better than him, or at least not by much, as I saw how upset it made him. You did beautifully, and then only tried to help him when you could, and look how he treated you. I didn't want to lose the first friend I ever had, even when I didn't agree with him. I saw him as Dudley picking on me and I didn't say anything because I feared losing him. I couldn't stand the idea of being alone again," Big Harry said quietly while looking at her intensely. "After we became friends, I just tried to support you in whatever I could, while trying to maintain my first friendship as well. Even when doing poorly in Hogwarts, which was still by choice, I realized I could still maintain testing myself and allowing myself to try to be as I wanted to be. I just kept looking to you to see what I wanted. I see in you everything that represents life and happiness and can't stop wanting."

Hermione knew what he meant, but couldn't help but realize how much that sounded like he cared more for her than as a friend. Oh, how she wished he cared for her as such. "So, you always wanted to be a bookworm and a teacher's pet?" She said it as a joke, but realized that Harry had told her more than he would have outside of his head, and he had said earlier that he had no desire to lie. Maybe this would be an innocent way to see if he was actually a friend. It would tear her up if he wasn't, but she would rather know and be used for homework, than just be used for homework and be blissfully unaware. She hoped.

"You may be those things, but they are things you are happy being. Knowledge is a driving force in life. And a needed one. I see a beautiful girl who simply wants to have knowledge. I see a girl who retreated to books as friends when others weren't nice and couldn't tell she was better than they were. I see a girl who strives to be better than what people tell her she can be just to prove them wrong and to actually become whatever she wants. I see a girl who wants a happy life. That is what I see and what I want." Non-Harry's face scrunched up again. "Well, except for the girl part... I don't really want to be a girl..."

Hermione loved every word he had said. His first sentence made her heart drop, but he brought it back wondrously. Then, as she should have expected, he made a joke to lighten the mood. Non-Harry or not, he would always still be fundamentally the same.

"So, what just happened here?" Hermione watched as he held up his hand and it had a brick in it, the left side of it a blue rather than red.

"Harry the person and Harry the magic were split, but now we are one," Non-Harry said, looking at the tiny Harry who smiled and nodded before fading away.

Non-Harry smiled contentedly and then looked at Hermione. "We're better," he said simply.

xXxXxXx

"Severus, you will silence, stun and bind Mister Malfoy and take him to my office and take his wand and bring it to me so that I may deal with him as necessary. He is not to contact anyone on the outside until we know what is happening," Dumbledore ordered, sounding off in the role of the man who defeated a Dark Lord, ran the country's government and was rather peeved.

"Potter obviously antagonized Draco to-"

"Severus!" Dumbledore barked out, shutting up the potion's master. "I have already looked into both his and Ron Weasley's minds and Draco was the antagonist as was seen by a good many students. You will do as I command or I'll remove you from my protection!" Dumbledore had no idea what would happen to Harry after this. The spell the Malfoy heir hit Harry with would cause him to relive his entire life from start to finish and remember it all with perfect clarity as if it had only just happened yesterday.

That was where the problem was. He had been required to obliviate Harry a few times over the years both in his time at Hogwarts and before. Times when Harry began to stray from the Headmaster's control and times when his affections for the bushy-haired brunette caused him to look into ways to safeguard her from Malfoy's, and others with a similar mindset, bigoted ire and learned of his ability to emancipate himself and become the Head of the House of Potter as soon as he turned eleven for the sake becoming Hermione's legal, magical guardian and placing her under his aegis. He had even tried a few times to protect the blonde oracle from Ravenclaw that was a year behind him that Dumbledore had planned to bring in once her powers manifested enough to be reliable.

Harry had met her during his second year when he learned she was friends with Ginny and had been worried about her and spoke to the Lovegood girl and learned that she had been treated much like he had and felt an intense desire to protect her, as well, and tried to take her under his aegis along with the Granger girl. At least until Dumbledore obliviated both of those memories.

It happened more times than Dumbledore cared to admit, never less than twice a year. The boy had a frightening ability to get that same protective instinct for those he was close to and get into the library and find whatever he was looking for with even less trouble than Granger herself. Dumbledore had literally lost count of the number of times he was forced to obliviate the knowledge Harry had obtained from the Forbidden Section of the library because he reasoned out he would need the knowledge throughout his years there.

And he was most likely going to break through every single obliviation Dumbledore had ever cast on him.

"As you command, master," Snape grumbled angrily and quietly so as not to alert anyone but McGonagall.

Dumbledore ignored the man as he turned and left. Severus only ever used 'Master' when he did his best to fight the control Dumbledore now held over him and, quite frankly, it gave Albus a rush each time. He just didn't let Severus know it, or he would surely stop.

"Albus," McGonagall said shakily, "the power waves just keep keep growing! At this rate, the castle will fall!" Like the ebbing of a lake or ocean, the power just rose with each rise and fall until the castle constantly shook, and then it finally just stopped. The magic flowing through Hogwarts that came from Harry inside was suddenly gone.

With barely a thought, Dumbledore removed the shields and locking charms he had placed up as he and Minerva rushed into the Great Hall.

Only to find it empty.

With worried eyes, Minerva looked to her superior. "Albus? What does this mean?"

Looking as lost as she did, Dumbledore shook his head. "I don't know, Minerva. I don't know."

xXxXxXx

**[Final Notes:]** - If anyone wants to try taking this up, feel free to. But, you must make it H/Hr/L and the bit in the first author's notes about Oracles, Ginny and Snape must be maintained.

Hermione HAS been obliviated as he introduced Luna to her and both helped him in the library for various things. If anyone wants to take this up, they can choose if Luna has or not. She hasn't been obliviated in my plans, but had her memory blocked. (I claim obliviation is erasing memories where blocking lets them remain, but seals them off – I plan to say he doesn't want to risk damaging her abilities.)

If you wonder why Harry will remember everything even while obliviated after Draco's spell is because, while the memories are gone, he relives the experiences (without the magical effects) and he remembers.


	3. Dark Lady McGonagall

**Title**: Women's Intuition (Alternate: "The Devious Kitty", "Enshrouding Darkness", "The Dark Feline")

**Chapter** – The Truth About McGonagall (Alternate: That's a Bad Kitty! No!)

**Ship**: H/Hr/L (if I ever choose to make this a story or if anyone else would like to take it.)

**Rating**: T – This chapter, M – Story if continued

**Tags**: Dark Lady McGonagall, Minion!Snape (To Minerva,) Pawn!Dumbledore (To Minerva), Soul bond, Time-Turner Training

**Key: **"Speech"**, **_'Thoughts'_,** "Speech laden with magic"**, §Parsletongue§

**Summary**: (For a detailed list of the things I was curious about, look at the end of this one-shot.) Dumbledore believes the best in everyone. We all know this. But, what if one of the ones he trusted took advantage of his inherent naivety and had been manipulating the scenes from the very beginning? And it wasn't Snape? This explores the revelation of that circumstance.

This is set at the end of third year, the day after saving Sirius from the dementors and Lupin's 'secret' comes out. As usual, if anyone wants to take the idea, I'm all for it. All I ask is that you try to keep the relationship as Harry/Hermione/Luna. There are a depressingly few number of those stories about and even less that are still 'alive'.

Women are very often hailed as being more devious, subtle and terrifying than men when they want to be. It's even a well-known quote that "behind every man is a women rolling her eyes", which can be alternated to "a women pulling his strings" or, simply put, the one really in charge. Why do we never really see that?

The idea for this came from a conversation with GPhoenix51 where we spoke about inconsistencies in the HP Universe, how Dumbledore was evil and how McGonagall was watching the Dursley home the entire day of Halloween, and then I took it further by wondering about her sending the kids into the Forbidden Forest when she knew there was something killing unicorns (which meant it had to be dark,) fast enough to catch a unicorn (so too fast for Hagrid's crossbow or four running children and one cowardly dog,) and drinking the unicorn's blood, meaning it was using it to live which meant it was wounded, so even more dangerous. Not to mention she ignored the kids' warnings about the stone. And then she had been aware of all the danger Harry and Crew were in through the years, but did absolutely NOTHING to curtail it, Dumbledore or Snape. She was just as guilty as anything Dumbledore did by either supporting it, or not looking deep enough to protect her Lions.

Looking at it objectionably, we see that Minerva McGonagall is just as guilty as Dumbledore in a good many ways. But this isn't about that. This is about Dumbledore being innocently naïve of everything and McGonagall being the evil party that authored Harry's life.

And thus, we have this.

**Veritaserum explanation for this story:** Veritaserum doesn't simply force the drinker to tell the truth, but removes all personality and conscious thought so that you are talking directly to the mind. You don't need to ask a question, you can also order them to tell you something they know and they will, but they cannot lie because they cannot imagine during this period of time as that, and all similar, sections of the brain are shut down. You can only learn what the person knows already. Thus, nothing that requires actual thought.

**Veritaserum Defense**: A master occlumens can use their abilities to block the affects of Veritaserum, thus allowing them to answer however they want to, which is why the Ministry bans the mental arts like legilimency. You can use it [occlumency], but you cannot LEARN it unless by a family member (or Ministry authorized personnel) since it requires legilimency to learn properly, which can only be used with practice, though only legally allowed by the Ministry. They do this so muggleborn cannot learn it and use it on purebloods and because you can't learn proper occlumency without using legilimency to make sure you're doing a good job. Occlumency shields must be exercised or they weaken, so learning from a book can only make them so strong before they peak.

xXx **Story** xXx

"I must say, Minerva, those two are going to be capable of incredible things together," Albus Dumbledore said with a great deal of amusement in his voice as the older woman took her seat beside him for breakfast the next day.

"Hm?" McGonagall grunted, following the older man's line of sight to where she could see Harry and Hermione sitting alone together and chatting happily at the Gryffindor breakfast table. The duo had been oddly silent throughout the previous night and that day thus far, but the castle's wards had them as being all over the castle at any given point. With the escape of Black, she knew it was most likely that they had been out and about to save him. Not an action she was particularly thrilled with, but not one that really upset her too much. The man had a good many resources that otherwise would have been lost to them in the future.

If she didn't know better, she would swear the two of them were using Miss Granger's time-turner for their own uses, but she had been quite adamant about telling the brunette it was to be used _only_ for getting to her classes and had trusted in the girl's near fanatical need to follow authority figures' orders to not use it more than absolutely necessary.

It took a good many compulsion charms to make sure that would remain an ingrained habit, too.

"Yes," Minerva said lowly as she frowned. "The two work exceedingly well together. I don't think there is anything that they can't face while together."

"Yes," Dumbledore chuckled out with a twinkle in his eye. "I truly look forward to seeing those two develop into something wonderful together. Even James and Lily didn't work so well in concerto together."

The two looked on and noticed fleeting looks, secretive smiles, lingering touches and more than just a few whispers to each other. It would seem that the night before had managed to make the two very close. Closer than one would think in just a single night as the old man could almost swear he saw the bond between them. But it was equally obvious something important was missing or not quite there.

xXxXxXx

Leaving the Great Hall, Harry and Hermione were heading up to the seventh floor corridor where Harry's little elf friend had shown them the most spectacular room they could have ever imagined. It became whatever the person who called it asked of it to be. And what was best, it provided them with a place to stay that no one else seemed to know about and, after using Hermione's time-turner a couple hundred times, they were able to relive their entire year at Hogwarts, coming out at night to patrol the corridors after taking it upon themselves after going back to ensure the dementors didn't make it into the school.

"I can't believe no one noticed how much we've grown," Hermione said aloud as she shook her head. "We've grown nearly a foot to them since yesterday."

Harry chuckled and squeezed the girl around her waist affectionately. Spending so much time alone together, without worrying about anyone else around to judge their actions, they had become closer and Harry had indulged in Hermione's hugs and natural need to have human companionship. And both had needed cuddles while keeping the dementors out of the school grounds when they were just as equally motivated to get in and at the students. "Well, not everyone was down and Ron is really the only person we stuck around with and he's still in the Hospital wing."

Hermione nodded and smiled as Harry's hand pinched her on the waist affectionately. They had both begun to use little gestures like that as unique ways to comfort the other over the year hidden together and she was pretty sure they were on the cusp of something, but wasn't sure what. The situation was rather unique, after all. "I'd forgotten about that," she admitted. "I thought I'd remember, so I didn't put it on my list." She was ashamed to admit it, actually. Immediately after rescuing Sirius, the duo had been talking out loud about the benefits of training with a time-turner after Sirius had warned them that Harry was at the center of everything, though they knew McGonagall would be taking it some time within the next couple of days, and Harry had told Hermione he would have liked to have tried when Dobby popped in and explained that they could. They could go back and he would take care of them for as long as they needed if Harry would bond with him.

After a brief kerfuffle with Hermione about slavery, Dobby won the argument and explained house elves needed to bond or lose their magic and die. After questioning about the literal fatal flaw in his reasoning, that he would already be dead, Dobby admitted sheepishly that they already accepted and bonded with him right after going back, so he had actually only been without a master for two months and a few days.

Hermione squawked and Harry chuckled and only asked who was with them, but Dobby remained rather tight-lipped about it and said they would make their own choices. Needless to say, the two went back, knowing Ron couldn't since he was hurt and needed time with Madam Pomfrey, and hired Dobby before Hermione made Harry sit down and write everything he could remember down so he would remember and be up-to-date when they met back up with their present. Harry had been less thorough than Hermione, but put everything whereas Hermione had put more academic information and didn't do the big things like having just saved Sirius or Ron being in the hospital wing since she was sure she would remember.

Breaking Harry's one-armed hug, Hermione stepped forward and called forth the Room of Requirement that they had been using and opened the door.

"Welcome back, you two," Luna Lovegood said dreamily and slowly turning her head to look at them. "Are we going back, now?"

She hadn't gone back in time with them the first time, but had actually been found locked in the dungeon by some nasty Slytherins about a month into the school year and, after learning about the things her house mates and what the general student body did to her on a rather regular basis, they allowed her to come to their hidden area under the condition she was never followed or told anyone about it. Neither of the time-traveling duo had been willing to let Luna suffer those things alone, even if it meant telling about their time-turner.

By Christmas time, she didn't even sleep in Ravenclaw Tower, any longer. She stayed with her new friends who had welcomed her with open arms and smiles, which had nearly put her into tears in happiness. She mussed up her bed each night so the students in her dorm thought she went to bed after them and left before they woke up, occasionally allowing Dobby to do so in her stead after he asked to help her do so.

"I don't think we should," Hermione spoke up as Harry nodded and then immediately looked to Hermione before shaking his head negatively, correcting his own response.

"Why not?" Harry asked.

"We've changed a lot in what would seem like overnight to everyone else," Hermione explained. "We should be seen with our bigger bodies and get to know everyone again so that we aren't completely different later. After all, going back again will have us having aged two extra years compared to everyone else. We'll be going into our fourth year, or Luna's third, but will look like the older students. If we're seen as one year older and bigger now and everyone gets used to it, then we can attribute other changes to the summer."

Luna nodded, seeing the intelligence in the plan. She wasn't a Ravenclaw for nothing, after all. "And as much as I would like to, we can't do this indefinitely because too many changes will be too obvious, even by doing that. Our height, personalities and general demeanors will be far too different to explain casually."

"Well, that's why we've saved locks of our hair," Harry admitted, having thought they had gone over this what had been a few months ago to them. "We can get some flasks of Polyjuice potion and expand the inside to have a higher capacity. We'll Polyjuice ourselves so that we can claim a lot of it was during the summer after our next time through."

"Very well," Luna said. "So, tonight, then?" She asked, eager to begin. She would appreciate being able to spend more time alone with her friends. The others were really quite upsetting and rather cruel even though she only saw them during classes any more. And no matter how much she tried, Luna just couldn't get rid of the urge to shrink and shove her two new friends into her pockets so no one else could have them. While spending a year in seclusion with them wasn't the same, it would give her time to figure out how to do so if she wanted to.

And she did.

"Yes," Hermione said, looking to Harry to hear his opinion. "I think tonight would be good. It would give us time to meet and talk with others and be seen and then we can come back for another stint of learning."

"We've learned our subjects taught in Hogwarts up to nearly NEWT level practical studies except for Astronomy, Herbology, History of Magic and Potions and then the stuff the room provided for mind magics, dueling, some basic fighting and exercise-"

"Not to mention wizarding law," Luna interrupted Hermione with her own suggestion, which had been a surprising twist when they learned of Harry's lineage from the room. He was shocked to the bone when he learned he was legally considered a pureblood and could legally claim emancipation as the Head of the House of Potter as the last of his line.

Hermione and Luna had both been immediately brought under his banner and protection, which protected them from a good many problems that could arise otherwise. While Luna was a pureblood, she was from a very weak family and Hermione was simply a muggleborn. That differential status meant nothing to Harry, but to the wizarding world, it meant she couldn't own her own property for magical means such as any kind of business or preserve and could only actually own land for her own home, which had to be in a muggle neighborhood or away from purebloods.

And when Hermione learned how purebloods had laws in effect that literally enslaved muggleborn when engaged or married to a pureblood that magically enforced their servitude, she had her first bout of accidental magic since two years before arriving at Hogwarts and the couch she was sitting on literally exploded into dust and it, along with her magic, swirled around her in an angry vortex of magical wind. The fact that it only required a Ministry-registered ring put onto a hand willingly, regardless of knowing about the magics involved, had been what really pissed her off since most engagement rings sold in Magical Britain came pre-charmed.

The bushy-haired girl had been furious for a month and had pretty much stuck to dueling magical representations of prominent purebloods like Lucius Malfoy and Minister Fudge.

Under Harry's aegis, so to speak, she was allowed any of those things with his permission and was also protected from being claimed in any way since she was, officially, claimed as Harry's.

"Yes, that too, though we only learned the barest basics," Hermione agreed. "We still need to get much better at each of those things and should definitely learn to duel better."

"Makes sense," Harry said, doing the smart thing and not telling Hermione that she had been focusing on dueling as much as anything else since learning about the bigoted marriage laws. "So are we going to go and mingle with everyone now or later?"

"May as well," Hermione said with a shrug. "We don't really have any reason to put it off."

Agreements all around, the three left the Room of Requirement and began walking together to Gryffindor Tower. Luna did not need to meet anyone since she had been going to classes the past year while the two Gryffindors planned to introduce Luna as a way to try and get people to pay less attention to Harry and Hermione's changes.

Half way to the Tower, they saw Minerva walking towards them with her mouth set in a firm line. "Mister Potter, Miss Granger. If you don't mind, I'd like to speak with you in my office."

"Of course, Professor," both teens said as one. Minerva nodded and immediately set out to her office, expecting the other two to follow after completely ignoring the blonde-haired Ravenclaw.

That was okay. Most people did.

But it allowed Luna to disillusion herself and follow the others, a spell Hermione had shown the perky blonde to help escape any tormentors when they weren't around. The professor seemed rather angry, but she had been living in real time and knew that the two had done absolutely nothing wrong. And she had learned long ago how to read a person to see how they were feeling. It was something she was still trying to teach Hermione so the brunette could learn to read everyone as well as Luna could. Well, except for Harry. Hermione could read that boy like a book and at a glance. Luna wasn't quite as good yet.

Minutes later, Minerva led the two third years into her office, unknowingly allowing the third student to come in as well, and stepped to the two she could see. "May I have your wands, please?" She asked, looking stern. It was a persona she had developed to make her students cower and bend to her whims rather than the all-knowing, grandfatherly persona Albus Dumbledore used. She preferred to see the children fear her than fear being caught in a lie.

Getting the sensation they were in trouble and trusting their Head of House, Harry and Hermione both turned over their wands, wondering what they had done. "Are we in trouble, Professor?" Hermione asked.

Minerva sat down and set their wands in her desk drawer and stared at her two Lions, taking in their appearances and mannerisms. She had spent the last three years learning the two of them, their mannerisms, their thought processes, their behaviors and learning to predict them, even using her connection as the Deputy Headmistress to order the Hat to place both students in her own House to make it easier. People would suspect the Headmaster of such things, but the fact of the matter was all things under the Headmaster's control were under hers as well. His orders simply superseded her own. But, he felt the Hat always put students where they belonged and didn't bother forcing the students where they didn't belong, feeling they would work out best where they were put by the Sorting Hat.

Minerva didn't like chance and knew exactly where those two would go.

She knew the moment she met Hermione Granger at the Magical Introduction meeting given to all muggleborn students on the roster that the girl was an intellectual sponge and had the ability to think and reason beyond anything the wizarding world had since Lily Evans; the woman who learned to create a ritual to defend against the killing curse. It was a shame she didn't share that ritual. But Minerva had gotten careless and Lily didn't know who to trust and who not to.

Minerva wanted that intelligence, so she ordered the hat from Ravenclaw to Gryffindor for the bushy-haired girl.

Mister Potter was simply too good to pass up on.

"The Headmaster has pointed out that the two of you seemed to be acting quite a bit differently this morning, and I have to agree," McGonagall said, peering at them closely to look for reactions out of the norm. "You also seem to be taller and to have aged quite a bit more than I saw you yesterday. What do you have to say for yourselves?"

"We're sorry, Professor," Hermione spluttered, "but it seemed like the perfect solution to our problems. We were able to-"

"You didn't obey the rules!" McGonagall snapped angrily, brandishing her wand. "How long have you been using it without permission?"

Harry and Hermione gaped at the woman and felt extremely bad for what they did, but weren't going to be sorry. Just sad they got caught. "A-A year," Hermione said.

"A _year_!" McGonagall screeched. "Do you have any idea what kind of trouble this is going to cause me?"

"But Professor," Harry asked carefully, "what does it matter? As long as we don't tell anyone-"

"You idiot boy!" McGonagall seethed, sounding much like Harry's aunt and uncle; a fact that immediately put him on the defensive out of habit. "You think this is about someone else?" She scoffed, feeling perfectly safe after having taken their wands. The fact that the two of them were doing something she specifically ordered them not to infuriated her more than the children had ever seen before, but it was to be expected. McGonagall hated not being in control. "No, this is about the two of _you_," she said lowly.

"What?" Harry and Hermione breathed out. Neither were able to figure out why their Head of House was acting so out of character.

"You need to learn your bloody place, the both of you," McGonagall muttered darkly. "It's going to take me hours to fix the both of you. Oblivia-"

"Stupefy!" Luna's red spell hit McGonagall before the woman's mind-erasing spell could even be fully formed.

"What the hell!?" Harry yelled from where he had leapt in front of Hermione to take whatever spell the woman ahead of him was about to hit them with.

"Dobby," Luna called out quietly. A 'pop' sounded and the little creature arrived, happy to help.

"What can Dobby be doing for Master Harry and his Misses?"

"Will you bring a bottle of Veritaserum from Snape's stores, please?" Luna asked, getting a nod and a quick pop as he disappeared.

"Luna!" Hermione exclaimed. "You can't use that on-"

"Why did she try to wipe your memories?" Luna interrupted the bushy-haired one calmly, which stopped the older girl short.

"I ... don't know," Hermione muttered as Dobby popped in with a green, glass bottle.

Luna took the bottle and used her wand to put McGonagall into her chair and bound her to it, stuck her to it, put the woman into a body-binding curse that was modified to hold the current position and then cast a confundus over her before handing her two friends their wands and then dropping five drops of the water-like liquid into their teacher's mouth before enervating the woman.

"Luna, are you sure about this?" Harry asked nervously.

The blonde girl nodded before looking to their Deputy Headmistress. "What is your name?"

"Minerva McGonagall," the older woman mumbled. Had she been cognizant when administered the Veritaserum, she would have been able to defend her mind and answer as she wanted, but being stupefied, she was under the effects before she could do anything to stop it and therefore, couldn't control her answers.

"How old are you?"

"Seventy-eight."

"Why did you try to obliviate Harry and Hermione?"

"They learned too much," McGonagall said, much to the three's confusion.

"What do you mean we learned too much?" Hermione asked.

"Knowledge will lead to independence, and I need them both to remain within my control so I can use them as needed."

"Why do you need us?" Harry asked, feeling sick. He had trusted this woman.

"So I can take over the wizarding world and eliminate muggles."

Luna gave the bound woman another drop of Veritaserum and then asked, "have you done anything to hurt Harry or Hermione?"

"Yes," McGonagall answered simply.

Huffing, Luna asked, "what have you done to hurt Harry Potter or Hermione Granger?"

"I tricked Albus into placing Harry with the Dursleys as an infant when he should have gone to Sirius Black and then convinced him that Black remaining in Azkaban was best. I left enchantments in the home during the day I watched the house so those who entered would be antagonistic to him and any magic users. I learned Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood were listed in a magical bonds book in the Ministry as potentially soul bonded and have been setting the stage for Harry and Ginevra Weasley to know one another by sending Hagrid to show Harry to the train station and leave him for the Weasleys to find and help him with Molly's assistance while he was out on a mission from Dumbledore so that I could later force the two into a relationship along with Miss Granger and Ronald Weasley while Ron kept an eye on them both."

"I also talked Albus into allowing the dementors onto the grounds and into starting the Tri-Wizard tournament once again so that we could enter Mister Potter into it."

Finally, Hermione couldn't stand it any longer. "Are you EVIL! Does Dumbledore know anything about these things!?"

"I am and he knows what I've convinced of him, but not of my eventual plans," McGonagall said quietly.

"You're the reason I was stuck with the Dursleys?" Harry asked dangerously, his face clouded in anger. Only Hermione's hand on his shoulder kept him from choking the older woman to death.

"Yes," McGonagall said.

"What else did you do to hurt us?" Harry demanded through clenched teeth.

"I charmed Hermione to fully respect and follow authority figures rather than be truly independent as she had been before Hogwarts. I also obliviated her and Harry of an oath she took in his presence after I learned she had done so after I explained life debts to her after Harry saved her from a troll in her first year. I-"

"What was the oath and did you have anything to do with the troll?" Hermione asked instantly. She remembered the information on life debts after seeing them in a book she had borrowed from the library in her first year and had found it an odd coincidence, but apparently, she had checked them out to verify whatever McGonagall had told her.

"Her vow essentially meant that she will remain at Harry's side until he casts her away and were no longer friends and help him with anything he ever asked of her, regardless of the nature of the request, thus ensuring she could not deny him anything he ever asked. I had nothing to do with the troll incident."

"What are your ultimate plans for the future?" Luna asked.

"To rule the wizarding world and eventually wipe out muggles so that only magicals exist by breeding muggles out of existence so we no longer require the Secrecy Act and then rule the world. To that end, I needed to organize various couples so magic's influence will spread with the effect of eliminating the pureblood bigotry as well."

Harry, Hermione and Luna gaped. "You want to get rid of anyone who can't use magic by treating everyone as breeding stock?" Hermione asked shocked.

"Yes. The world would be a better place if everyone used magic and fell under my rule."

"Should we kill McGonagall now so it can't happen?" Harry asked, feeling rather helpful in that regard after learning the woman was responsible for his life with the Dursleys. He barely even recognized that McGonagall said anything about organizing various relationships.

"You cannot," McGonagall responded, not being able to tell the question wasn't directed at her while she was under the influence. "My horcrux will keep me alive so that I can be resurrected. Killing me now would be pointless."

"What's a horcrux?" Harry asked a breath ahead of Hermione.

"An item which requires a dark ritual to be performed, followed by a cold blooded murder, which will split a person's soul so that they will have an anchor to the world of the living as a wraith until the body can be reborn."

"Do you think that's how Voldemort was still alive?" Harry asked Hermione, linking that description to his first year.

"It was," McGonagall answered, still unable to tell the difference between the target for the question.

"That answered _that_, then," Hermione grunted.

"Where is your horcrux?" Luna asked, hoping to get the information to protect her friends from the older woman's schemes.

"I don't know. I left it to someone who swore an allegiance oath to work in my best interests and that person is the secret keeper for the secret of who they are so no one can stop them from reviving me if I should die and my heart stone stops glowing. I cannot divulge the information."

"I thought it only worked on houses," Hermione said to herself. After a second of silence, she realized McGonagall wasn't going to respond. "How does it not work only on houses?"

"It functions by hiding a secret, regardless of what it is, so long as the secret remains true," McGonagall said, beginning to twitch as the Veritaserum lost its potency and her own mind began to spark back to life.

"That means we can't stop her right now," Luna said to Harry and Hermione as the two looked worriedly at each other.

"Does Dumbledore have any plans for me that are against what I would think are in my best interests?" Harry asked carefully, trying to word his question properly. He had always had a feeling that Dumbledore was manipulating him to some end. Everything pointed right at the man, after all. But, suddenly, a whole lot of it could have been orchestrated by the woman in front of him.

"He knows you are prophesied to fight Voldemort and are the only one who can beat him and does not plan to train you until you are of age and knows how you are treated at the Dursley home. He thinks he has the time to wait and train you much later. In that way, they are against your better interests. That is all."

Harry looked away from the older woman and let out a tear, anguished to know someone was aware of what he was forced to suffer through and did nothing to stop it. Both Hermione and Luna were quiet as they realized there was nothing they could really say as he took a step away from them.

"When did you learn Harry and Hermione were using the time-turner in a way you did not allow?" Luna asked.

"At breakfast this morning when they acted more affectionate than they should."

Suddenly, a burst of flame erupted above the teacher's desk and Fawkes trilled out before disappearing again, shocking the three people present and coherent enough to recognize him.

"He's warning us," Harry said quickly. "Someone's coming."

"Bloody hell," Hermione muttered, looking to their bound teacher.

Luna had no such qualms. "Go invisible," she ordered as she brandished her wand. "Obliviate!"

"What are you doing!" Hermione hissed with her bushy hair standing on end.

"We have no choice," Luna said calmly. "We needed to remove this experience and her suspicions of the two of you and her memory of seeing me." She quickly removed all of their bindings and pocketed the Veritaserum now that they were all invisible.

"Dobby," she called out a second later.

"Yes Miss Luna?" The little elf asked as he popped in.

"Please deliver McGonagall to her bed chambers and then awaken her."

The elf and professor were gone almost instantly and left the three in the room, alone, to wait. Harry and Hermione wanted to ask what she had done, but knew better than to risk being heard. Seconds later, Severus Snape barged in, saw the room as empty and then left with a scowl on his face.

Almost immediately, Hermione made all three visible again with an angry flick of her wand before she dragged the three of them back to the Room of Requirement.

"Ah! That ... That _woman_!" Hermione raged once the door was closed.

"I think we should go back and get in another year of training," Harry said. "I don't like what I heard either, but the longer we wait, the more likely she can stop us. What did you do to her?" He asked, finally turning to Luna in curiousity.

"I erased her memories from when she woke up to when I cast the spell. She thought she was ill after breakfast, which she will think was the same as the morning before in regards to the conversation, and she went to her bedchamber to rest but fell asleep."

"That's pretty advanced for a second-year student," Hermione said as she came closer to the blonde. "I know you trained with us this year, but I didn't know you knew how to obliviate."

"I read about it," Luna said delicately. "I haven't had much practice, but find it moderately easy in conjunction with legilimency. Especially when I can remove the latest memories that are in short-term memory rather than long-term and picking through individual ones."

"What practice have you had?" Harry asked, shocked. His little friend had been going around erasing people's memories?

"Primarily a few people who've seen me naked after my clothing has been stolen," Luna said with a light blush. "It began to be more problematic than embarrassing this year compared to last since I began growing breasts."

Harry and Hermione scowled. "You didn't tell us people saw you like that," Harry grumbled. He and Hermione had found the girl naked in the beginning of the year and had begun helping her and knew it was moderately bad, but had no idea it was _that_ bad! It was no wonder the girl stayed with them the whole year.

"Let's go back," Hermione said, getting back on topic. She trusted Luna and didn't want to let this rather horrifying realization with McGonagall to make her stop trusting her friends. "We want to try learning as much as possible without worrying about her catching us."

"It's a good thing Ron had to stay in the Hospital wing," Harry muttered as each of them grabbed their trunks, though Luna had pulled hers out of her pocket to show she already got it that morning. "Apparently, he's been working against us."

"We don't know that for sure," Hermione defended. "I mean, yes, he's been rude since we met him, but he's not overly bright. She could just be asking him questions and getting what she wants out of him, or using Veritaserum like we did."

"Before we go back, why don't one of you look into his mind to see?" Luna suggested. "He already doesn't like me and would not appreciate me being there, and it's serious enough that it justifies the breach in privacy. You can feel bad about it if he proves to be a real friend."

Harry and Hermione both stared at the quirky blonde before looking at each other. "That was brilliant," Harry agreed.

"I'll go," Hermione suggested. "I'm better at scanning than you are." At Harry's nod, she left to visit the Hospital wing, making very sure to keep her wand in its quick-draw location.

Seconds after Hermione left, Harry turned to Luna and asked, "what's a soul bond and why is there one between you, me and Hermione?"

Luna immediately blushed.

xXxXxXx

"Hey Ron, how's it going?" Hermione asked, walking straight up to the prone boy.

"Good! Madam Pomfrey says I can leave in time for lunch," the redhead said joyously.

"How was your stay last night?" She asked, using the question to cause an instant of reflection as he looked back into his memories and made him black out the living world for a fraction of a second, which gave her the chance to practically walk into his mind.

Almost immediately, she shuddered in disgust, but managed to keep her face from betraying too much of it. Apparently, Ron had discovered his hormones in the middle of the previous year and was currently entertaining thoughts of Hermione doing things he saw in a PlayWizard Magazine from the twins' room to him. And he had taken the opportunity she was petrified to feel her developing breasts the year before.

Quickly looking at all of the memories he had of her, she found he had only done it once since Harry had come with him all other times and Madam Pomfrey suspected the boy of doing something since she walked in on him and he had jumped away, looking as guilty as his hair was red. She caught enough young lovers breaking apart with those same expressions to know Ron ha done something, but was unable to tell what and knew Hermione would not have approved.

Hermione made a mental note to get the mediwitch something very nice the following Christmas.

She then checked and found he was fully aware of McGonagall's plans for information and was actively helping her with keeping tabs on Harry and Hermione both. He was getting guaranteed passing grades, would get the Quidditch Captaincy starting his sixth year, ten thousand galleons each year put into a Gringotts account he could access once he was of age and would be allowed to choose any girl in his sixth year as a concubine except for Hermione, who was already going to be given to him for an open relationship. The little prick already had his eye on Lavender Brown because she had the largest set of breasts their year and, while he wanted Katie and Alicia, he knew they wouldn't be around by that time.

"I didn't get enough for breakfast," Ron answered her as she pulled out of his twisted little mind with him none the wiser. The entire experience for her took only a second in the outside world in thanks to the mind working much faster than the rest of the body. "So, I plan to make up for it at lunch. What about you and Harry? Do you know what happened to ... you know," he trailed off, not sure what he should or shouldn't say.

"He escaped some how," Hermione reported, feeling dirty. With a quick glance to see Pomfrey wasn't in the room, Hermione looked at Ron and quickly obliviated him of all of his knowledge about her body. She couldn't remove his fantasies about her since they were normal for a developing teenager to have, but she would be damned and in Azkaban before she let Ron do that again.

Once his memories of her breasts were gone, she put him into an enchanted sleep with an overpowered stunner and quickly left, enervating him from the doorway and having the door closed by the time he woke up. It was something she had learned while dueling with Harry; when you overpower a stunner and then immediately enervated the stunned person, they had a massive headache that took hours to get rid of.

The pained groan was music to her ears.

xXxXxXx

"The little bastard felt me up!" Hermione roared as she reentered the Room of Requirement.

"WHAT!" Hermione barely caught Harry before he made it out of the door to kill the redhead. "Lemmie go, Hermione!"

"He didn't do it just now, it was while I was petrified and I erased his memory of it," she said, pulling him back to Luna. "He's fully aware of what he's doing and is supposed to get me and one girl as his slave along with seventy-thousand galleons when he's of age and the Quidditch Captaincy. We're going back without him. Dobby!" She called out.

"Yes Miss?" The elf asked as soon as he popped in.

"Will you take us to the Chamber of Secrets?" She asked. They would have done this in the Room of Requirement, but they didn't want to risk going into the room when they hadn't been able to tell the room what they wanted to begin with and there was no telling who they may see inside without telling the room to create itself only for those three. They wanted to make sure they didn't meet their younger selves and they didn't want to risk meeting an adult who probably knew about the room and may have been there already.

With a quick nod, Dobby grabbed the hands of the girls while Harry put his hand on the little creature's shoulder and they popped into the dark, cavernous room next to a foul-smelling snake that was still taller than they were by three feet. Knowing their plan, Dobby immediately popped away so they could have their privacy.

Without waiting for a response, Hermione wrapped the long chain to her time-turner around all three of them and began counting turns to send them back a full year just as she had done once before after doing the arithmancy to figure out how many it would take since it was too risky to go back to when there weren't any other students in fear of getting caught. Especially now.

"Two thousand eighty-eight, two thousand eighty-nine, two thousand ninety. Hold on to each other, this is going to be a weird ride." With that, she let the hourglass go and then all three children held each other tight as they began to vibrate.

It was an odd sensation to be going back in time a year, much different than Harry's first time of a day to save Sirius. That time, they had seen events move backwards very quickly as people went in and out of the room and saw the light of day change through the window. But inside the chamber, there was no light, there were no windows and no one had gone through, so there was a vast emptiness of shadow all around them as they hugged each other tightly.

With Luna's fear of dark, closed spaces after being locked in the dungeon for a whole weekend by some of her tormentors, her grip was almost crushing the other two.

Finally, as their bodies began to vibrate to the point of making their teeth chatter, everything seemed to suddenly stop and they knew they had made it to their pasts.

"Alright. The first thing we should do is head to the Room of Requirement and see if it can help us regain those memories," Hermione said, still peeved that her mind had been modified by the woman she had trusted and her first grope wasn't by Harry.

Disillusioning themselves, the trio made their way to the seventh floor, finding that they had arrived the night of their second day at Hogwarts, so everyone was asleep. It was also two days before they arrived back in time the last time they had made the temporal journey. Odd, considering they had another person and used the same number of turns.

Pacing three times, Hermione called the room they would use for the next year together. _'We need a room that will help us gain all of our memories back, where no one can find us, that will have everything we need for our training and that will keep us from getting bored.'_ Immediately, a door opened up that, once closed again and disappeared, would not be seen until the end of the school year.

After the three entered, they found themselves in a room no more than ten feet across in full, and fully circular with three chairs in the center, facing each other, and with a wooden pedestal in the center with a single, large and open book.

As the door closed and disappeared, Hermione stepped over to the book on the pedestal and looked at the pages the book was open to, quirking an eyebrow in surprise. "The first thing I told the room was a way to gain our memories back. I guess it's going to help us with that first," Hermione explained, knowing from previous experience the room could and would change to suit whatever needs they had at any given time. During their dueling practice, they had held back tremendously since they knew Madam Pomfrey wouldn't be able to heal them, but the room had provided a training room with fake wands and spells where they could still feel pain, but couldn't kill each other, along with a trainer to help them out.

The room was designed not by the Founders, but by the Potter family, which is why Godric Gryffindor had been able to use it since they had merged the lines through marriage a few generations before him and it actually learned everything that the people who entered it knew or any books it came into contact with, which could be absorbed by it.

Since it was connected to Hogwarts and tied through magic to the entire castle, everything that anyone who had ever entered the castle knew, the Room learned and made it more powerful and capable as it gained every ounce of knowledge anyone who had ever entered Hogwarts knew. And that knowledge was supplied to whomever required it if they only asked and would continue to do so until the magic of Hogwarts was gone and the castle died.

"So, it tells us how to get our memories back?" Harry asked, sitting in the chair and letting Hermione take the lead. The girl was a faster reader and had better comprehension, so it was simply easiest to let her do as she wanted.

"Yes, two ways according to this. One is to use occlumency and find each memory to repair it so we have it back, but it can take however long it takes and is gentle and easy, but the other is almost immediate, but depending on how many memories have to be repaired, it could be painful. The more memories you have, the more it'll hurt," Hermione said, biting her lower lip.

"I think we should go with the second option," she finally said after a few moments of thought.

"Why?" Harry asked, never being fond of pain even if he was rather used to it by now.

"We don't know how much we lost or how long it would take to get the memories back or even if we _can_ get back all of them. This says that it's really difficult to repair the memories singularly, but we can just do a spell to basically go through our entire minds that repairs them automatically. But, that's why it's so painful. It's not very elegant."

"I'm a guy," Harry said with a careless shrug. "I don't care about elegance. I'm not fond of pain, either, but you make a good point."

xXxXxXx

Hermione found herself being first to go under the 'quick-and-dirty' method to retrieve their lost memories. The book had specified that obliviation altered the brain in such a way that the target memory or memories were disconnected from the rest of the mind even though they still existed, basically drifting alone and unattached to any other parts of the mind, even though they didn't actually move. The author of the book had said his obliviated memories were like bubbles high in the air while his known memories were more like the calm waters in the lake below them. In Hermione's mind, which understood how memories were created, she realized that synapses in the brain that directed those memories were magically cut to make the person forget and that this caused them to be repaired, tracing along the magical pathways of the brain to trace and repair magically removed memories.

What Hermione read told her that this technique was originally used against trauma patients who had lost themselves and were in comas and then been adapted for use against those who had accidents while learning the art of obliviation, of which there were usually a good many, which she found odd since Luna had obliviated the Deputy Headmistress only half an hour earlier without problems. Well, to them, but not for roughly a year into the future in real time. Still, she knew she wouldn't feel comfortable trying to do the same without the target being a very bad person.

"Are you ready?" Harry asked, being the one Hermione wanted to use the spell. While it seemed more than easy enough, she had learned that Harry had an unnatural finesse with his spells where others were rough, if such terms could be used. While she could enter a mind and snoop about like she had done with Ron, without the person being aware, assuming they weren't occlumens themselves who had measures to detect such entries, Harry's magic sung in her head, making her know exactly where he was and what he was doing, but was gentle and calming in a way that actually made her want to give him what he sought. The trade-off was that she could enter his mind and find nothing. His magic was so well suited that there were no obvious walls, it simply hid his mind in a giant blanket of invisibility. Luna had actually been the one to point out that Harry naturally professed his lack of desire to snoop in their minds which led to the realization that his magic alerted them on purpose. They just never knew when it would happen, hence her reading Ron.

"Yes," Hermione said with a determined nod. "I need to know what's been taken from me."

Harry nodded and then double-checked the book for the spell, pleased there were no wand movements, and then looked to Hermione and touched her brow, sending in a slight jolt of energy into her cerebellum. "Memoria Revoco."

Hermione's eyes widened as the whites glowed softly as the magic raced through her synapses and repaired and recovered what had once been lost.

"_Harry," Hermione said, getting the green-eyed boy's attention as he began to climb the boys' stairs to go to bed the night after saving her life from a large mountain troll. She had been in the bathroom crying after Ronald Weasley had said horrible things to her when she was only trying to help and had begun to entertain thoughts of asking her parents to remove her from the school; maybe even find another school like the one in France she had read about. She only knew a little French, but was always a fast learner. "Can you hold up for a second?"_

_Harry stopped at the foot of the stairs and turned to the girl he and Ron had saved four hours ago. She looked absolutely nervous and was nibbling her bottom lip, looking rather indecisive, something Harry could tell easily enough. He didn't like seeing it in her, he realized, so he smiled and nodded, coming down the four steps and back to the floor to stand a few feet from her. "Of course. What would you like to talk about?" He asked gently and kindly, hoping to calm the fidgety girl._

_Hermione took a steadying breath as she nervously looked around the common room once again. The students had all gone to bed nearly an hour ago except Ron and Harry who had elected to finish a chess match while Hermione waited, hidden, for a chance to approach Harry, hoping he would do his homework on the table by the fire like he had the night before after Ron had gone to bed, which seemed to be his habit. Luck had, once again that day, been with her, but only for him to notice he was fully caught up and nearly get up the stairs without her catching him. _

"_I have to know, Harry, why did you come to save me tonight?" She asked quickly. She could feel her heart pounding rapidly in her chest and could practically feel the blood coursing through her veins. Hermione was so terrified of everything being the same in this school as it had been in others that she really was scared. But, she couldn't, for the life of her, figure out why. "I mean, you knew the troll was about and that it was dangerous. Why would you risk yourself to come and save me? I know you don't like me, but even _Ron_ came to help."_

_Harry blushed and looked away as he scratched the back of his head. "Yea, I know... I kind of pulled him into it. He was just going to do as everyone was told, but he followed me. And, I _do_ like you, Hermione. So please don't think that. And that's why I went there."_

"_What do you mean?" Hermione asked, curious. Professor McGonagall had told her while the boys walked ahead of them as she escorted them back to the Gryffindor common room about life debts and how Harry could, at this point forward, literally ask for anything he wanted of her and she would be magically bound to do as she was told. The professor just wanted Hermione to know so she could try to talk to Harry about clearing the air about it so that it didn't become a problem in later years, she had said. While McGonagall hadn't said it out right, Hermione had read between the lines to realize that she was thinking of when he developed his hormones, which Hermione had already read about in one of her books she bought during the summer before term referencing magical oaths, which was something all of the Muggleborn had been warned about. Apparently, magic could enforce the things you said if you weren't careful with _how_ you said it and many had accidentally bonded themselves as slaves to others in the older days when speech was more direct and formal. But she knew Harry wasn't the type to do something like _that_._

"_Hermione," Harry said with a sigh, "I wanted to say something to shut Ron up when he was talking about you, but I didn't because I was worried about losing the first person who ever wanted to be my friend. I ... haven't really ever had one before," he said, looking nervous, much to her surprise. "I've been bullied my entire life, and I know how it is. I get in trouble with my relatives any time I do really well, and I saw that in Ron, so I just stayed quiet, and you got hurt because of it. I didn't want you to get hurt, or worse, because I wasn't brave enough to tell him you were only trying to help. I respected that you were helping him even when he was being a prat, and I knew I should have said something earlier, but I didn't. I'm sorry."_

_Hermione's eyes misted slightly. Under the circumstances, she had never really been told by anyone that they had appreciated her in any way. She had people who put up with her when they were forced to, or wanted her help on group assignments, but no one had ever said they appreciated her or her knowledge, and here was a boy who had just saved her life saying those very same things. "I will admit I shouldn't have been so ... bossy ... about how I was telling him things," Hermione admitted slowly, trying to figure out what to actually say._

"_You weren't really, though. That's the thing. You were just being forceful, which Ron is the type to need. I mean, he _is_ a little thick, after all," Harry said with an embarrassed smile. "It's pretty obvious he hates people who point out his mistakes. But, if you weren't forceful, he'd have just completely ignored you and probably not even bothered."_

_Hermione was quiet a moment as she considered that information with a tiny smile. Harry was obviously not trying to say anything too bad about his friend, but still tell the truth. "So, you don't hate me?" She asked quietly._

"_No," Harry said, "I don't. I'd actually hope to be friends if we could?" He asked, sounding unsure._

_Hermione smiled brightly and was unable to resist the urge to leap forward and wrap Harry in a hug. "Of _course_ I'd like to be your friend, Harry! I'll always be here for anything you need, no matter what it is. All you ever have to do is ask and it's yours, I swear it!" And Hermione truly meant it, too, which is why her intent activated the life debt she had on her mind and caused her to pulse once in a bright, honey-colored light as the two children pulled back from one another. Magic had found her offer a valid one to balance the cosmic scale between them and sealed her deal._

"_What was that!" Harry exclaimed, looking confused while Hermione looked shocked._

"_Er... I think I may know ...," she hesitated, looking worried since she didn't really know what that particular oath could mean. "I can ask McGonagall tomorrow. I'm sure she'll know. She said ... er, something like this may happen since you saved my life."_

"_That's odd," Harry said with a frown, confused. "Kind of cool though. Think it would happen with Ron?" _

"_No," Hermione said. "McGonagall explained after having me explain the truth of what happened after promising no one would get in trouble for lying to her that Ron was the reason I was there and that he only came because you made him, so it would only happen with you," she said. What she didn't know was that McGonagall had garnered the truth by looking into all three children's minds when it was obvious Hermione had been lying. What she also didn't know was that McGonagall would realize the paths things could go and decided to wipe this information from Hermione's mind the next day, along with Harry's and would enforce Harry's dependency on his friendship with Ron since Harry had apparently noticed the flaws in the young redhead that would keep them from becoming as close as she wanted._

"_Oh. Well, it was still kind of neat," Harry said with a yawn. It had been a long day. "Well, I'm knackered, so I'll see you tomorrow, Hermione. Good night and sleep well, alright?" _

"_Yes, Harry," Hermione answered._

Suddenly, the memory ceased and a new one took its place.

_Harry and Hermione were out after curfew after visiting the library and having not been found by Madam Pince when the librarian made her rounds as the students were in the shelves with a notice-me-not charm around them to keep students from badgering Harry the day after Sirius Black had broken into the boys' dorm room and cut up Ron's bed. Though, to be honest, it was also because Ron was annoying them, asking why the crazy criminal was trying to kill _him_ when he should bloody well be wanting Harry. _

_On their way to Gryffindor Tower, the duo were almost caught by Filch who chased them a good ways before the old squib finally grew too tired and, by that time, the two students were having a rough time figuring out where they were and wandered carefully as they could back towards the tower when they found a little blonde-haired girl on the fifth floor, huddled and mostly hidden behind a statue where she had managed to get under it. The two Gryffindors would have not noticed if they hadn't heard her shivering._

"_Oh my god, Hermione!" Harry hissed, pointing out the small girl who they could tell was asleep, but completely naked and shivering violently in her sleep. Without waiting and as Hermione's horrified gasp filled the hall, Harry had taken off his cloak and wrapped it as best he could around the nude second-year student, waking her up. "Come on, get up out of there. What's your name?"_

"_L-L-Lu-Lu-" The poor girl couldn't even formulate a sentence because her chattering teeth were too busy as her body shivered, trying to generate more body heat. The girl was far too cold and having been out on the cold stone and surrounded by the cold statue for too long to even make her body work properly since she was numb all over._

"_Harry, we have to take her to the hospital wing!" Hermione hissed quietly, instinctively trying to remain quiet as she hugged the blonde girl and rubbed her furiously to try and get warmth into her body._

"_N-N-No!" The blonde stuttered out fiercely. "Th-th-th-ey'll g-g-get in-n-n-n tr-ble an' it'll g-g-g-get worst!" She shivered out, unable to speak properly and even so violently as to use a different word at the end than she meant to._

"_Well we certainly can't leave you out here and they _should_ get into trouble for letting this happen!" Hermione exclaimed indignantly._

"_N-n-n-n ... n-n-," she tried to shiver out again._

"_Forget it, we'll see about that tomorrow when we take her for a check-up. Let's get her to the tower. I can loan her some of my clothes," Harry said as he took off his robe and put it on the spasming blonde girl and then his cloak once again before picking her up in both arms and carrying her to the seventh floor with Hermione on his heels. The blonde girl was surprisingly light and, while Harry wasn't the strongest boy around, he still had no problems carrying her the two floors which surprised him greatly._

"_Fine, but she needs warmth or she could catch hypothermia! We can't use warming charms because they're too sudden and that kind of a change so quickly could put her into shock and stop her heart. Body heat is best, so we'll use your bed and lay on either side of her until she's warm, then I can take her to mine and we'll see about getting this mess cleared up tomorrow," Hermione growled out, swinging her wand around like she was hoping to hex someone. "What's your name, again?" Hermione asked, looking down at the blonde in Harry's arms._

_A moment of silence caused Harry to look at the girl in his arms and smile lightly as he saw her holding onto his shirt with two tightly-closed fists and trying to press herself into his chest. "She's asleep. We can get it in the morning."_

"_All I can remember is she's a second year. I recall her being sorted while you and Ron flew that stupid car in to Hogwarts," Hermione said. "I think she's a Ravenclaw from where she was at since their common room stairwell was just down the hall a bit."_

_A few minutes later, the duo had quietly entered the boy's dormitory and Hermione cast silencing charms on the curtains to Harry's bed to ensure the girl didn't wake anyone else up in the morning after she woke up and possibly yell out in surprise. She also darkened the drapes and, once the three of them were in Harry's bed and had the blonde girl spooned between them, she cast a sticking charm with all the power she could muster into the spell at the curtains to make sure no one could open them since only Harry had the strength to overpower her spells._

_The next morning, Harry, Hermione and who they learned to be Luna Lovegood in one of Hermione's robes had gone to see Professor McGonagall, only to have their story heard out, and then obliviated of the experience, though Luna was also obliviated of even being cast out naked like that, by her own dorm mates none the less._

Hermione continued through the memories of McGonagall obliviating the night they saved the Philosopher's Stone, but had only modified their memory when the two split up and Hermione had finished her sentence with 'love' and that they shared a kiss since they apparently required the memory itself. The bushy-haired brunette had also been stripped of her muggle knowledge of basilisks since they were well-known mythological creatures with various forms of eye powers from hypnotization to death since Hermione had figured out the connection to Harry's Parsletongue ability and the odd voices only he could hear and had taken it to McGonagall. She also found three separate points in their third year where she and Harry had met Luna on several other occasions before going back in time, though nothing as bad or scandalous as the original meeting. It didn't make her happy at all to know that these times they found Luna had been separate occasions from when they met her _after_ going back in time.

Hermione's head jerked forward as all of her memories integrated with her mind and caused a minor headache that left her seeing double for a few seconds.

"Are you alright?" Luna asked, holding the brunette by the shoulders with a look of worry etched onto her brow.

Hermione couldn't help it. She kissed Luna gently on the cheek and engulfed her in a hug as several 'first' meetings flashed through her eyes, each one where Luna had been alone and needing help, only to be denied two people who continuously befriended her more easily and quickly with each meeting. It was no wonder they trusted her with their secrets after meeting her and so easily agreed not to go to any authority figures.

Harry quirked an eyebrow and wondered if he'd get a turn. "I suppose all of your memories are back? And since you're ... hugging, that you're okay?"

Hermione nodded quietly. "Yes. It's just, we met Luna so many times before going back in time and tried to help her, but we kept getting obliviated. I only had about twenty memories lost, though. Luna has some, too. We'll have to do this for her, also."

Harry and Luna both nodded, ready to see what had been taken from them.

xXxXxXx

**[Author's Note]** – I purposefully left out Harry and Luna's memories so that you could guess what you want or choose what you want for this story if you want to take it up. This was primarily for the sake of getting the idea of an Evil!McGonagall out of my head and, if anyone wants it, they're free to take it. These are meant as guide memories and you don't have to keep them.

My inconsistency list and then points that I would like anyone who wants to borrow ideas to use if they go with this plot as a continuation (or if you just want to see what I'd do if I took it on.)

Inconsistencies from beginning to end, feel free to bring up others (while Dumbledore is guilty of these things as well, understand that this universe points to McGonagall being the one behind the scenes.)

McGonagall was watching the Dursleys all day, but Hagrid was supposed to go straight from Godric's Hollow to Number Four. It's only a couple hours driving, much less flying as Hagrid had done. Why was she watching them when Harry was supposed to go straight to Sirius (which Hagrid refused to do when he showed up.)

She KNEW the Dursleys were bad people, so why not look up on the child of her friends when she knew that?

For being out after curfew, she sent four first year students to the Forbidden Forest for detention when she KNEW something dangerous was evil and fast enough to catch and kill unicorns, meaning Hagrid's crossbow couldn't likely shoot it, or at least kill it since it was drinking unicorn blood. All that would happen is that it would get very angry. Even if not those, there are known acromantula who would love children for dinner.

In first year, she told the trio to shut up about the Philosopher's Stone when they said it was going to be stolen. She didn't ask how they found out about it (even admitting she didn't know) when she should have asked to stop any security leaks. She also said the defenses were perfect rather than upping any defenses or asking WHY they thought the stone was going to be stolen.

In second year, the entire staff knew Lockhart was more trouble than he was worth and obviously a liar of extreme caliber. Why, as Deputy Headmistress, did she not check his credentials to ensure the students were getting proper educations? And why did she not defend Harry with the Heir of Slytherin crap and stop the school from spreading harmful rumors?

In third year, she gave Hermione a time-turner. While she was intelligent enough for it, the threat posed was so extreme she shouldn't have even considered it. As much as I hate to admit it, if Harry and Ron paid more attention to Hermione, then she would not have been able to get away with what she was telling them by blowing off their questions through the year.

Fourth year (and many others,) students were OPENLY hostile towards Harry and she never once did anything to defend him. She didn't confiscate badges, she didn't provide any assistance to Harry when he was obviously outclassed for the tournament, she didn't speak up to ask HOW he could be in a contract, magical or no, when he didn't enter himself and the very nature of contracts are meant to make a WILLFUL agreement. Harry shouldn't have been able to be locked into that. And when he was for whatever reason, she should have assigned "homework" to help him with tasks and to get them pointed in the right direction, even if not just pulling him aside and GIVING him what he needed to learn.

Fifth year, she basically told him to shut up and take Umbridge's abuse (even if I can understand it was meant to not get him in trouble or get fired herself, it is her JOB and DUTY to protect her students and she did NOTHING,) she let Harry stay in the dark about as much as Dumbledore did regarding the Order of the Phoenix and the prophecy and such. Not to mention letting RON of all people be the fifth year prefect when it should have been Harry, no matter what Dumbledore had to say on the matter. Leaving him without the status proved that the school and Dumbledore felt he wasn't worthy of the position when it could have shown their own belief in him, after all. And, in all honesty, it shouldn't have taken ANYONE to realize Ron would abuse his power and position. We know he at LEAST kept a Fanged Frisbee, meaning he probably kept alcohol and the equivalent of "PlayWizard".

Then, don't even get me started on how she allowed Malfoy and Snape to be verbally abusive as all hell in the GREAT HALL no less, and classes without taking points, without detentions and without reprimanding them.

xXxXxXx

Things to consider if you want to know where I planned to take this if you want to, or why I didn't go into much detail on some things.

Harry's Pureblood status: I didn't go into detail because it could be fun for different reasons. If you want to continue, do as you wish, though I thought of, and am partial to, him being an heir of all four founders.

What they learned over the year: I gave a brief description to give you an idea, but they learned various things. What I mentioned is a must, but more is allowed if you want to keep it going. And they don't have to be nearly as proficient as they made it sound. Hermione could be close to NEWT level, or Luna, but probably not in everything. After all, she was getting overwhelmed with her course load in third year in Canon.

Luna: She MUST go back in time with the duo after their first time. This is because they go back in time and THEN meet her, but they take her under their wing after learning of some of the crap she had to go through. They went back to the beginning of third year and met her after a couple of weeks (before month) and saved her from being locked in the dungeon for a weekend (put there by either Slytherins, Ravenclaws or both. She spent time with them from that point forward and by Christmas, only went to Ravenclaw Tower to muss her bed or had Dobby do it. Everyone there assumed it was because they picked on her and she was hiding.

Harry/Hermione/Luna relationship: This is to start whenever, to be honest. In my eyes, and for this plot if it gets continued, would basically to be starting during their second time going back in time after perhaps a month in closed quarters and learning what a soul bond is. After going back the second time, they'll certainly research it and it will begin to develop while under close quarters. It would have to be resolved a few months before meeting up with the "Present", though.

Weasleys: I actually only plan for Ron to be a bastard in this one. Ginny would be good and, while she loves Harry quite thoroughly, she won't use potions or anything, Molly would support the trio feeling soul bonds are the purest representation of love (being steeped in tradition, she would assume them to already be married and allowed to do as they wished and share rooms, but would still try to take care of them, of course.) Ron is the only bad seed and that's because he hated being last and wanted more and embraced his hormones.

Snape and Dumbledore: I figure Dumbledore got tricked and believes the best in everyone and is probably getting along in years to help reinforce that while Snape was caught as a student planning something horrible for the Marauders and she promised to protect him if he swore complete allegiance to her. Rather than go back to an abusive home, he agreed and became her puppet.


	4. When Deities Get Bored

**Title:** A Higher Power

**Chapter1** – When Deities Get Bored

**Ship**: H/Hr/L, Nev/Sus/Han, One-Sided H/G, Dumbledore/A goat

**Rating**: M

**Warnings:** Erotic Comedy, Parody, Neutral!Twins (play both sides to prank, not harm,) sex

**Heroes:** Harry, Hermione, Luna, Sirius, James(?), Lily(?), Remus(?), Dobby(?)

**Villains:** Voldemort, Snape, Ron, Draco, Lucius, Bellatrix,

**Key: **"Speech"**, **_'Thoughts'_,** "Speech laden with magic"**, §Parsletongue§

**Request**: From for a Cat girl story with sex that I decided to turn erotic comedy.

xXxXxXx

**[Details:]** - Set at the start of Summer going into Sixth Year, two days after returning home from fifth year. Slyvarant, a lonely, crazy and bored deity pops into the HP Universe and decides to meddle. Slyvarant is like Peeves, only not a poltergeist and has a body and a tonne of power backed by a highly unstable mind. Ginny is going to actively pursue Harry and try to be one of his girls since he's with Hermione and Luna, but will actively try to foil his (and Hermione and Luna's) superhero persona. However, because of Slyvarant's meddling, Harry will try to seduce Ginny while in his superhero persona while Hermione and Luna stop him from it and Ginny is repulsed by the Superhero version.

Hannah and Susan see Harry, Hermione and Luna together and decide they can share Neville, which they do, though he constantly runs from them, along with his Gran who tries to help the girls when they enlist her help.

Slyvarant would also provide goodies fro the bad guys as well, wanting to see more fun out of things. He is all about wreaking havoc and self-indulgence. When he discovers alcohol, things get plain wacky.

**WARNING:** This story is a graphic, erotic comedy that will have as much sex as it will poor quality humor and bad jokes. I'm not nearly as funny as I like to think I am, but wanna give this a shot. Written as a side-effect of offering a smutty one-shot to a friend to get him to read over my "Darkened Paths" excerpts. Shameless, I know. He didn't even read it, the bastard.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter or any other crossover I may intentionally or unintentionally create. By reading this story, you understand this disclaimer and understand that it holds true for this story in whole, and in part, throughout the _entirety_ of the story from this location or any other in which the story itself is placed, regardless of a disclaimer being on future chapters.

**Ideas borrowed with permission from**: CloneSerpents for his book on sex-based Parslemagic.

**Recommended Story of the Chapter:** "Harry Potter and the Sword of Gryffindor" by CloneSerpents (H/Hr, R/L, another erotic comedy, completed, very good)

**xXx STORY xXx**

"I'm so damned bored!" A plaintive voice wailed as he drifted through inky blackness. "I'm a damned demi-god! This shouldn't happen to me!" Slyvarant rolled onto his back, even though there was no semblance of up or down, or even moving, and stared into the darkness. He had been one of the few remaining of his kind in the center of creation when he realized those of his kind were dwindling. He had rushed away so quickly, using the majority of his power that, by the time he stopped simply running and paid attention, he was already past the expansion of all of the universes.

Each universe was unique from the one beside it and each held really interesting things to watch and meddle with, but for the past millennium, or maybe two millennia, he had drifted in what he assumed was the direction back from which he had come, letting his power refill in case whatever came for the others came for him too.

Sadly, since he was drifting in subspace, or the place between other places, he was unable to speed himself up any more.

"I just want something to _do!_" He wailed again, sighing. He had been doing it for centuries now and no one had come to give him an idea.

A few years later, he saw a glimpse of light just out of the corner of his eye and excitement rushed through him. He changed his course to intercept the universe and happily rushed into its reality, popping up somewhere over a large body of water where the magnetic poles somehow seemed to be off. He could sense thousands of downed aircraft and ships had used this triangular-shaped portal to cross between realms. From the feel of things, it pulled them in randomly.

"How odd," he said to himself, looking around and feeling the portal close behind him. Oh well, it would open again some time later. "Now, what is in this world to play with!" He asked gleefully, expanding his senses to take in the knowledge of the earth itself. Immediately, he was bombarded with a rush of information.

"Oh! Wars that spanned the planet! Hidden civilizations, evil people and good! How delightful!" Clapping happily, he decided to focus on the biggest players in the world. If you're going to play, it may as well be entertaining! And this was a young reality, so it was still in its developmental stages!

"Let's see now. Kings, no. Queens, no. Cure for something called 'cancer', no," he mumbled, frowning as he found boring person after boring person. "Oh, oh! A child marked by Fate! His life reads as a history of pain and misery, repressed emotions, very hormonal, traitorous friends, lots of power and he's already being manipulated! Oh! Already with dozens of enemies! Him! Oh, him!"

Slyvarant circled merrily, finally happy to have something to do and someone to mess with!

"What does his future hold, hm? Anything interesting?" He focused on the path of Time and watched the boy's passage, learning what he would go through. It didn't matter if he watched it this way. He was going to play with the boy anyway. But at least he knew what he had to work with.

"Oh! Prophesied to kill a snake man, potion-fueled romance with a red-headed girl while his best friend steals his love the same way, another girl who loves him, fights snake man, loses most of his friends and then lives miserably ever after. Bah!" He scoffed. "That's no fun at all! And all of this with no real fun! Just angst, angst, angst! I'll help! I'm good at helping!" He cried out, once again gleefully.

He suddenly rushed North, the ocean parting behind him as he sped along at supersonic speeds. A mere minute later, he was following the life signature of the boy in question, slowing enough so as not to damage the homes. It wouldn't do to let the boy's captors know anything had changed yet!

Slyvarant arrived over Number Four, Privet Drive as the sky began to turn orange and night fell and danced in place in the air, squealing like an eight-year old girl. He teleported himself from here through to a spot just outside of Harry Potter's door and knocked, clouding the minds of the mortals downstairs so they would be none the wiser.

He frowned when he didn't get an answer. "Hello! All powerful deity here to grant you wonderful powers!" Still nothing. Honestly!

"Deal with the Devil! One soul for me and one miracle for you!" Nothing. _'That's it! Now he's not playing fair!'_

Stomping his foot like a petulant child, Slyvarant walked through the door, seeing Harry Potter staring blankly at the ceiling. Curious, he looked up and tried to see what the boy saw, but there was nothing there aside from a large number of cracks and moldy plaster. Confused, he stared at it a few minutes until the cracks and shadows began to look like a weird face. _'Was THAT what had his attention! Well!'_

"Hello Mister Mortal! I'm Slyvarant, a deity of- Hey, are you even listening?" When the boy didn't respond, Slyvarant got pissed. "Wake up!"

He immediately kicked the boy in the side, getting a yelp of shock, surprise and fear as he realized he wasn't alone for the first time. "Who the hell are you!"

Slyvarant sighed and rolled his eyes. Really! It was about time! "I, as you would already know if you weren't staring up at nothing, am Slyvarant. I'm a demi-god. My mojo is all gone, so we'll forget the usual introduction since I'm already out of routine and my dance number would be all out of whack."

"Huh?" Harry asked eloquently, looking discretely at his wand a few feet away.

"I'm here to give you lots of powers," Slyvarant said slowly, wondering if he had picked a rather dim-witted player. It certainly seemed so.

"Why's that?" Harry asked, really looking at the stranger for the first time. He was about five foot ten, messy black hair somewhat like his own, but with more of a hobo look, gray eyes, an overly large and pointy nose that reminded him of Snape and rather lanky. He also had a glint in his eye that he remembered seeing in Bellatrix only a few nights ago when she killed his godfather. This man was not playing with all of his marbles.

Slyvarant shrugged. "I'm bored, and I don't like the future you have. So I'm going to give you lots of powers, we'll come to an agreement, and then you go on about your life with me popping up to put you in another direction if you're either going to make me bored or something is happening I don't like. I want to see you act much like a superhero you'll watch on the television because they're always entertaining, and you've already got the villains to save the world from."

Harry shook his head, losing interest. "I don't really care. I don't know if you know, but I just lost my godfather. I don't really care much about saving the world right now. If you want to leave, feel free. If you want to stay, we can share the room, but it's somewhat small, and I don't spoon with other guys."

Slyvarant huffed. _'Not interested.. Not interested! I'll show him!'_ Outwardly, he struck a thinking pose. "What if I gave you your godfather back, then?"

Harry's head snapped up so quickly that Slyvarant was about ready to bring the boy back to life of his own merit. "You can do that!?" Harry asked, coming closer to the stranger.

Slyvarant quirked an eyebrow. "Yes, but only if you agree to do what I want of you."

"Anything!" The rash Gryffindor agreed, not bothering to think things through. Immediately, Slyvarant got up and danced a little jig – One that looked like a very excellent rendition of Riverdance. "Erm, what are you doing?" Harry asked, wondering if that was some weird ritual to get the powers the decidedly weird guy was talking about. He was certainly magical rather than muggle. Craziness like that only existed in the wizarding world.

Slyvarant stopped and stared at Harry, forgetting he was there. "Sorry," he said. "Now, hold still while I imbue you with some goodies."

"You're not about to butt rape me, are you? I'm not really into that," Harry said warily, noticing the demi-god's eyes trailing up and down his body.

Slyvarant's face looked absolutely horrified at the thought. "No! You're not my type! I like them greasy for proper sliding. Now hold still. I'm going to make this hurt now," the deity said, sticking out his tongue and beginning to concentrate.

"What are-" Harry was cut off as massive amounts of what appeared to be a miasma of colors coalesced into a cloud and entered him through his eyes, nose, mouth, ears and ... lower. After about a minute and a half, Harry dropped to the ground, coughing throatily as he realized his mouth and throat were dry. He didn't even want to consider what happened to his ... lower parts.

"There we go!" Slyvarant said happily, proud of himself.

"What did you do to me," Harry asked, his voice scratchy. He stood up and swallowed carefully as Slyvarant smiled.

"I gave you power, of course! Now, here are the rules!"

"You said you'd give me back Sirius," Harry said with narrowed eyes, making Slyvarant huff.

"Yes, yes. But that will be last, you see! I have to go and get him from where he is, so I can't just make him a body without a soul, now can I?" He asked rhetorically. "No, I can't. I have to create a body for him, and I need his soul in order to build the same one he had, so I'll have to go where it is and retrieve him. Now, are you ready to listen or not?"

Harry only nodded, realizing the stranger in front of him was beginning to get upset. He didn't really know what it took, so perhaps he was right. Still, this was his best shot, so he would take it.

"Good. Now, you will need two sidekicks. Choose from," he paused and closed his eyes, double checking the names of the girls he had seen in his future and past, "Hermione, Ginny, Luna and Susan. They will be who stand beside you through everything from this point forward, and I do mean everything. Each of them will agree when you ask, and they need only agree when you go to them and the extra I've given you will go to them in turn, but I need to know so I can tell the power who to attach to first."

Harry pondered the question, ignoring the odd man's tone as he finished his apparent warning and not even paying heed to the fact that he fully trusted that the man was telling him the truth. Hermione was a given. She had always been beside him. He considered Ginny, but she had not been as helpful to him during the year, and especially after Sirius died, as Luna had been. And Susan was someone he didn't even really know beyond the DA, much like Luna, but they hadn't spoken nearly as much or bonded as thoroughly, either.

Nodding, Harry made his choices. "Hermione and Luna."

"Excellent! I was worried you would choose the redhead girl. She was going to dose you with a love potion in a few months while her brother did the same to the Hermione girl," he said with a negligent wave of his hand.

"What!" Harry yelled, not caring if his relatives heard him.

"Well, don't worry. The power will make you immune to mind-based magics like love potions, compulsions and this legilimency thing. It will do the same for those two, as well. _I can't let my new toys go and get played with by someone else, after all_," the deity mumbled to himself.

"But why would they do that?" Harry asked desperately.

"The boy wanted to have sex and didn't think anyone would care to miss her while the girl has wanted you since she was four." Slyvarant shrugged as he held onto Harry's new power so his rage didn't release itself to destroy the house. That would be a problem and stop all of his fun. Certainly wouldn't do at all. _'Ah! I know!'_

"Now, if you notice that you're in a bit of a foul mood at the moment," he ignored Harry's glare, "and if I weren't keeping your power in check, it would destroy a large portion of this neighborhood. I cannot allow that if you're to continue, so I will take care of the goblins in this world. Go to them after, and _only_ after you have obtained both women and ask for emancipation. Then stay at your family's old home. You'll see what I'm referring to. I'll also give you a lot of goodies and place them into your vaults with them so you have things to play with. Surprises make everything better."

"Wait, what powers did you give me?" Harry asked, sounding confused again.

"Well, let's see," he began counting off on his fingers. "Teleportation where you need to think of the person or place you want to go to, but they have to trust you to arrive where they are or been where you are trying to go, but it will still run afoul of your magical enchantments here like the Fidelus Charm. You've got a morphing ability that will kick in very shortly, incredible strength, speed, raw magical power, you can fly like I can without the use of a broom or plane, true invisibility, mental powers and a whole host of other goodies. You will evolve as you age and get more powers or your powers can change; that type of thing. The girls will get the same first things except mental powers. At least not the same as you. They'll get things for themselves that you won't, but you'll need to figure it out. Much is based on the individual person because I didn't want to give you anything specific. That would take away the fun of this."

"Is this all some sort of game to you?" Harry asked, looking more than a little disturbed.

"Of course," Slyvarant said. "Now! I'll see you again later after I've found my end of the bargain, but that will probably take a few days since I've never met your godfather and need to search. Understand this, though. Your power is vastly more than it had been, both in strength and ability. You will need to try and control yourself. Once I'm gone, I won't be holding onto it any longer. Understand?"

Harry could hear the warning in the man's voice and nodded. "I do."

"Wonderful!" He smiled. "And you'll love the bonuses I've added! Not as much as the girls, I assume, at least at first, but definitely afterwards! And to give the girls their powers, you'll have to kiss them."

"Why do I have to kiss them? And what bonuses?" Harry asked as the man faded away with a jaunty wave. Suddenly, power rushed through Harry and he arched backwards, his arms rocketing outwards as his body rippled and finally collapsed before breathing heavily. "Whoa..." Knowledge of some of the abilities Slyvarant told him about came to his mind, but Harry frowned as he realized it was the barest amount to allow him to begin using it safely. Or safely enough at least.

Feeling more than invigorated, Harry smiled and quickly looked around, deciding he would come back for it all and to get Hermione and Luna on board before doing as the man told him and heading to Gringotts. Harry pocketed his wand and decided to use what Slyvarant told him of his teleporting ability and the information that was put in his head and envisioned Hermione, willing himself there.

xXxXxXx

Harry felt himself shift to the left and opened his eyes to see where he ended up, only to have the best view of what had to be the world's most perfect arse of a woman that was bending over, toweling off her legs one could ever hope to see. It only took him a scant second to realize this was Hermione, and that she had just finished taking a shower.

He choked in shock, alerting her to his presence and causing her to twirl around with wide eyes, giving Harry an incredible view of a lithe body with only a little fat on her frame and two wonderfully formed, fleshy orbs with light brown friends came into view along with an average build and trimmed pubic hair that was little more than a thin rectangle.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds in silent horror before Harry finally realized what he was doing and spun around, putting his hands to his eyes and rushing forward, running face first into a wall and down, yelling sorries the whole time.

As soon as Harry acted, Hermione's higher functions kicked in and she quickly pulled her towel up to cover herself as she rushed over and knelt next to Harry. "Harry! Harry, are you alright!"

Harry blinked his eyes rapidly and looked over to Hermione, only to notice her towel was at the side of her legs and, with her kneeling, he had a perfect view of her almost hairless mound. Yelping, he closed his eyes and Hermione squeaked, stepping back rapidly and rushing to her clothes.

"Don't you dare look, Harry! Although you already got an eye full," she mumbled to herself as she dressed in her robe, foregoing her knickers in lieu of getting something to cover herself. _'Gods! This is so embarrassing!'_ Finally cinching her robe shut, she sighed. "Alright Harry, you can look."

Harry allowed one eye to peek and saw Hermione in a robe, arms crossed under her breasts, unwittingly emphasizing the very things she was trying to hide. Unbidden, Harry's eyes focused there and suddenly, it was like her robe wasn't there, even though he could she a shimmering outline as if it were disillusioned. He shook his head and looked again, seeing it was back to normal. "I'm so sorry, Hermione! I didn't realize, didn't think that, er-"

"Harry, let's just forget that happened while you explain to me why you showed up in my room."

Harry's face was flushed brilliantly, but no more so than hers as he looked back at her again, not letting his eyes stray from her face. "Er..." Suddenly, looking back on it, he wasn't sure how he was supposed to believe it himself, much less get her to.

Without meaning to, his eyes drifted downwards again, making Hermione flush. "Harry!"

His head shot upwards and he stared at a spot over her shoulder. "Sorry, I just... Er..."

"They're nothing special, Harry. I'm sure you've seen a girl's bits before, now what are you doing here?" She asked, beginning to enjoy the situation. Now that she was over the initial shock, she realized he was suddenly shown, albeit a little more than she would have liked at first, that she was a girl. And if his quick glances meant anything, then that meant that he was finally appreciative of the fact. Maybe she wouldn't have to tie him to his bed this next year?

"Er, no, I haven't," he said lamely, "and they're, er, nice," he mumbled, instinctively trying to not let her downplay her beauty, and especially those lovely breasts! "But, I'm here because I was just given a power-up by some weird guy who walked right through my bedroom door and gave me some weird powers and said I had to choose two others to be with me and I chose you and wanted to know if you wanted the power-up too or not," he finished with a rush, finally looking at Hermione again as she blinked owlishly.

"Say what?"

"Yea, it's weird, I know. He said he wanted me, you and Luna, well I chose the two of you for the power-ups, to be super heroes and it would help us fight Voldemort and his Death Eaters. He also said I could choose between Ginny and Susan, but he said that Ginny plans to dose me with a love potion, but I'm immune now, Ron planned to dose you with one, but you'll be immune if you agree and Luna will too, but no one planned to dose her that I know of."

"So, let me get this straight," Hermione said, sitting on her bed and motioned for Harry to do the same as she crossed her legs and leaned against her headboard. "Some guy offered to give us super powers, you chose Luna and I as sidekicks and he just did all of this out of the goodness of his heart?"

Harry quickly shook his head. "No, he said he was a demi-god and that he was bored. He was a lot like Peeves, actually, only he had a body and looked way different. I don't think his head was on right, but still, it's more power and he said he would bring back Sirius."

Hermione blinked and then leaned forward, noticing Harry's eyes drift downwards and stay there, but too surprised at Harry's gullibility to care at the moment. And, it was going to be her plan to get him next year all along anyway. "He said he's a demi-god? And you believed him?"

Harry nodded, his eyes never pulling away from the rounded flesh he saw in Hermione's robe. He had the strongest urge to just...

Hermione gasped as Harry's hand reached up and very gently cupped her left breast under her robe as he leaned forward and kissed her on the lips. She moaned and then sighed as she pressed into him, kissing him back and grabbed the back of his head with both hands, pulling him down and to the side so they were both laying on the bed. His thumb flicked over her hardened nipple, causing her to breathe in and left her mouth open for Harry's tongue to dart in, gently licking the tip of her tongue.

He pinched her nipple lightly and rolled a little, causing her to buck against him enough to feel his erection pressing into her leg that had somehow found its way between his as he began to kiss down her jaw line and her neck.

Without either of them realizing it, power flowed into Hermione from Harry's mouth as he kissed her, and it began to change her, giving her new powers and changing her slightly as it advanced her down at a genetic level.

Harry didn't know what he was doing. He was just suddenly overcome with ideas of what he could do with the tempting flesh he could see and it became too much! He had to do it. And he knew she wanted him to touch her. He didn't know _how_ he knew, just that he did. Even more, knowledge from somewhere other than his own memories provided him with a road map of where to cup her, where to pinch and where to bite, nibble and suckle. He knew what she was enjoying and what she wasn't, and even more, where she wanted something to happen.

When he felt her leg press against his erection, more knowledge came to mind; how to take her, how to make the pleasure multiply with his new power and how to make her feel that pleasure multiple times and he suddenly realized where the knowledge came from. It was implanted along with his power!

Breathing heavily with ragged gasps, he pulled back, watching Hermione's eyes focus on him before his gaze traveled to her puffy lips, swollen from their kisses. Suddenly, he felt another wave of desire wash over him, and knew it was neither his power or his own desire, but Hermione's. Shivering, he leaned down and kissed her once more on the lips, getting a delightful moan as she pulled him heavily to lay on top of her, grinding her hips into him without even meaning to as her body's movements became more instinctual.

Harry shifted to the side of her on the bed and brushed the hair out of her face as she smiled at him. "What was that about?" She asked breathily. He would have been worried if he didn't feel an odd sort of satisfaction from her, though he could also suddenly feel a bit of apprehension, worry that he felt it was a mistake.

"It just came over me," he said quietly, "that I had to kiss you. That I had to touch you." He felt her shudder in his arms as she moved a little closer to him. "I didn't mean to force you, I'm sorry," he said, feeling very bad as he realized that he wasn't acting on his own feelings, even if they _were_ present, but something that forced him into doing it.

Hermione shook her head. "I could have pushed you away. It's alright." She looked at him and he felt a massive amount of apprehension. "Are you sorry you did it?" She asked.

Harry realized what he was feeling and smiled before he could catch himself and leaned in to kiss her again, this time in full control over himself. Coming back, he shook his head. "No. Not at all."

Hermione smiled before she frowned and sat up. Harry was confused, as he didn't feel anything that matched a frown from her, he didn't think. He felt ... smug and devious or sneaky. "Alright, Harry. You've seen me, now I want to see you."

"What?" He asked dumbly.

Hermione stood and gestured to her robe. "You saw me starkers, so now I want you to return the favor. Strip."

Harry's face flushed as he looked around the room nervously. "Er."

"We don't have all day. Just strip it all off. After I've had a few seconds to look at you as you did me, then you can put it all back on."

Harry nodded nervously, not sure it should work quite that way, but his sense of nobility felt she at least had a point and he stood, beginning to take off his clothes. "Er, are your parents here?" He asked, getting a shake of the head.

"No. They're at friend's for the evening and generally don't get back until late. Enough stalling," she said, sitting on her bed and covering her chest with her robe again. It had opened widely with Harry's ministrations.

Harry got up hesitantly. He could hear a murmuring in the back of his head that sounded much like Hermione's voice and could feel her enjoyment. _'The little minx is enjoying this,'_ he thought to himself.

"Damn right I am, Harry, now get stripping," Hermione said with a smirk.

Harry quickly took off his shirt and tossed it to the floor beside him before shoving his pants down and letting his erection out to swing about freely. He could swear he heard a growl in the back of his mind.

_'Ooo, what I wouldn't give for a leather paddle right now,'_ Hermione thought as Harry's pants dropped to show two tight cheeks.


	5. Absolute Power

**Title:** Absolute Power

**Chapter1** – Forever, My Master

**Challenge**: Ranger Dragen's (now 'Dark Dragen') "Slaves" Challenge, viewable in the first chapter of his story "HP & the Slaves 'Betrayal'"

**Warnings:** Rape (2 required per challenge eventually, NOT in this chapter though) **True dark (eventually) Harry, Hermione and Luna**, large number of lemons, severe violence

**Rating:** M – Adult Situations, Language, Nudity, Oral Sex, (others in continuation)

**Ship:** H/Hr/L, Nev/Han/Sus

**Alignment:** DARK!EVIL!Harry/Hermione/Luna, Dark!Dumbledore, Dark!Neville, Dark!Susan, Dark!Hannah

**Inner Circle:** Neville, Twins, Blaise Z, Susan B, others to be determined

**Slaves:** Luna L (Pseudo), Hermione G (Pseudo), Ginny W, Daphne G, Nymphadora T, others to be determined

**Key: **"Speech"**, **_'Thoughts'_,** "Speech laden with magic"**, §Parsletongue§

xXxXxXx

**[Full Summary:]** - These notes are to let everyone know what will be in this story so there are no bad surprises for reading. I want to use this story and plot to show Harry and those who follow him directly as they fall into the depths of darkness and heed the call of the Dark Arts, progressing to the point to where they truly become evil and their goals become somewhat twisted versions of their original targets.

This story will have Hermione and Luna swear themselves to Harry in such a way as to legally be considered his slaves only to the effect of making sure no one, not even Dumbledore, can make them leave his side and to give them a form of protection. They will be slaves, but they will be in an honest relationship together beyond slave/master. The girls will phrase their oaths in such a way that they aren't truly considered slaves with each other, but still fall under the 'slave' title under the law (and truly must obey Harry, though he doesn't use that power against them) and will be under his rule as their Lord and Master for several reasons. Most importantly will be for a form of protection and safety for all three of them.

This is written in response to the challenge by Ranger Dragen. Therefore, it will be bound by his requirements. Check the warnings above to see the important things.

Hermione is a slave in title only. She will actually be Harry's primary love interest with Luna mostly because of the benefits and security doing so provides for them all. Luna will be a slave for her own protection (why it's needed is explained at the beginning of this chapter, actually,) but will have almost no restrictions and will be the Alpha!Slave. These two will be treated like queens. The other slaves, per challenge requirements, will be treated like regular slaves, friends at first and necessary to make things work, then progressively, Harry will not look at them as people, for the most part, but as property or tools. To be frank, he starts out normally, but the three of them (along with Dobby and Winky, Neville and their followers) will descend further and further into the realm of evil as dark magic and their own actions erode their morals (example, they always say the first murder is the hardest, regardless of reason). Dobby and Winky are so enamored with Harry and his girls that they cannot see the three of them doing wrong. They are blindly and fanatically loyal to them, much like Bella to Voldemort. And just as enthusiastic and they fall into darkness just as the trio do. They don't want to rule, but do plan to reform the wizarding world of Britain.

The challenge requires at least two rape scenes. One will be Ginny. She will be considered a sex toy and true slave when she comes in (not this chapter). This is meant as the big turning point in their views and lives, and that is why Ginny is used that way. The other will be a minor character or a no-name woman. Hermione and Luna will NOT be raped. Ever. I will not sway from this decision. Harry will not search for women to do this to, either. Ginny is guaranteed, for a real reason, but anyone else getting sexed up by Harry or his girls will be for honest affection. After all, Harry is not the one that HAS to do deed. The challenge only required two. It is very possible, and more probable, that it will be something else less vile than Harry doing it. The only reason they do to begin with is because they truly go dark and that will show that point (you can read a similar scene through my "Slave Ginny Gets Broken" one-shot. It is an excerpt from this story's future. Keep in mind, though, that it is almost purely smut and has a bit of back-story to explain what's happening in it, which won't be in the scene in this continuation.)

Dumbledore and the Weasleys are dark, but not evil (Twins are the exception) and against Harry's goals. Harry, Hermione and Luna are just a little evil, and definitely dark. True dark. They will be working together for their own gains. They owe nothing to the wizarding world and find it is easily controlled, so they determine they will take it over and recreate it as they see fit. Their goals are light, gray-light. So, mostly good. But their methods are about as dark as they come.

And that's what taints them.

**Luna's ability is explained at the end of this chapter.**

**Warning: Fellatio in this chapter, marked with [Lemon Start] and [Lemon End]**

**Recommended Story of the Chapter:** "The Harem War" by Radaslab (Harry/Hermione/Harem: Hermione, Tonks, McGonagall, 1x OFC thus far, Luna L, Susan B, Katie Bell, Lavender B, Patil Twins, others)

**xXx Story xXx**

Luna stood silent vigil in the corner of the Room of Requirement where Harry had created a small refuge that appeared as a small, cozy home so he could be alone from everyone. It was what appeared to be the ground floor of a cottage-like home where the stairs led upwards, but did not have a second floor and many of the features were fuzzy, blank and looked to be off, the detail only being in some of the locations closest to knee-height. Only having heard the words 'recreate my first home' repeated had let her know that this was based on his subconscious memories of Godric's Hollow, faded by time. The outcast Ravenclaw cried silently as Harry mourned the loss of his godfather, Sirius Black and broadcast waves of misery, despair and pain. It wasn't just his current pain she was crying for, but the pain he would be forced to endure soon.

Luna was not sure what he had learned while speaking with their headmaster, but she had felt the boy's magic flow through the castle's halls like a wildfire through a forest. Even the paintings had stilled as they felt the power interact with their enchantments, some even coming close to breaking. She had gambled on him coming here for time to think, since he was not allowed in the hospital wing after he had learned how close Hermione had come to truly being killed that night. He had nearly broken down the thick doors to the infirmary until Madame Pomfrey warned him against being there, citing it could cause more harm than good to the fallen Miss Granger, and sent him away with assurances that he could see his friends the next day.

Any more power and the curse sent by Antonin Dolohov would have destroyed Hermione's heart. Her own magical aura had only just weakened it enough to leave her alive, but still heavily wounded though she would, thankfully, be mostly healed from it in a few days thanks to the matron healer's care, fully healed in about a week and a half. That knowledge of how close she had come to death, along with learning that he had been tricked by his most hated enemy which caused his godfather's death obviously tore Harry's heart into pieces.

Without making a sound, Luna walked over to the silent boy and sat beside him, inches from his side and stared at the wall where there was a blank canvas that he had apparently not been able to remember, just as he was. Harry made no motions of acknowledgement, but stayed silent for several moments until Luna turned to him and enveloped him in a hug. Harry's initial reaction was to tell her to leave him alone and push her away, but against his own wishes, his body shuddered and he found himself crying into her shoulder as she rubbed his back and held him tightly, cooing gently into his ear as she tried to soothe him. They had done similar things while discussing their mutual pasts and both had found it a calming action.

Luna lost track of time, but felt she held him during a good cry of easily a half hour before he finally got around to looking up at her for the first time, prompting her to speak. "Something I've learned in my years here is that, while it doesn't make things better, a good cry can make things a little more bearable," she whispered, making very sure not to let him go. As much as she knew it helped him, it also gave her a sense of comfort that she had been without since her mother had passed away since he was not letting go either. And it was nice to feel needed and wanted.

Harry nodded slowly, cuddling back into the girl's embrace and taking strength from it. "I thought you would hate me. That everyone would."

Luna smiled warmly and kissed him gently on the cheek, trying her best to convey that his fears were completely ungrounded. She reached down and took his hand, bringing it up to her jaw line just under her left ear where she used his index finger to trace a small line-shaped indentation where a scar was made about the length of his fingernail. "It's the only mark I got tonight. But it was laced with magic, so it couldn't be removed and-"

"I'm sorry," Harry said, sounding slightly distressed and looking at the girl pleadingly. "I didn't mean to make it happen."

Luna cupped his face and smiled again, stopping him before he continued again and calmed him down. "I'm thankful," she said quietly, brushing his bangs from his eyes. "It's a small bit of proof that I had friends who were willing to trust me to fight beside them to protect someone precious. You're the only person who has treated me with any kind of honesty and sincerity. You don't treat me as a crazy loon, but a person. So, I am proud of this small scar and will wear it with pride and honor."

Harry's eyebrows knitted together as Luna spoke, getting confused. "But, it was my fault you got hurt! I-"

"No," she interrupted him gently. "You asked all of us to stay behind, but we chose to come. And it was because of you and your training we were able to survive a trap that you had no way of knowing was set up. Very few witches or wizards could have stood up to Voldemort's Inner Circle and come away with as few casualties. You gave us that ability. And I already know the others feel the same way."

"You've told me of your visions. They've been things that are impossible to confirm or deny or were something, such as with Mister Weasley, that was proven to be true and even saved his life. You had no one you could contact and did what you had to in order to save an important person to you." She pulled him close to offer what comfort she could, resting his head on her breasts and stroking his hair gently.

Harry soaked up the attention desperately, clinging to Luna as she comforted him in a way that he had not felt before. He had been physically close to Hermione a few times and received hugs from Mrs Weasley, but had never been comfortable with physical affection outside of that. After a few minutes of silence, he asked the question that first flittered through his mind when she sat next to him. "Not that I'm not thankful, but why are you here?"

Luna sighed, having enjoyed the brief respite with Harry and sad to see it go. Neither would be as contented to sit as they were again that night. "We need each others' help or we'll both get trapped in situations we cannot get out of."

Harry looked at the blonde curiously, silently asking for clarification, which she decided to provide. "Do you know what a magical oath is, Harry?"

"No," he said, wondering what was going on.

"A magical oath is just that. An oath you swear on your magic, your life, or something of that nature and your own magic enforces, making sure you keep your word. If I were to swear on my magic, my life or both to never lie to you while we were in the Room of Requirement, then I could not do so or I would lose whatever I swore on as soon as I did. My magic would enforce it, no matter what my intentions were. Do you understand?"

"I understand what the oath is," he said slowly, "but not why you're telling me."

Luna kissed him on the forehead as she pulled out her wand. "Just for luck. I, Luna Celeste Lovegood, hereby swear on my magic and my life that I will not knowingly lie to Harry James Potter and that everything I say tonight is, to the best of my knowledge, completely true. This oath's duration will be until we next leave the Room of Requirement. So mote it be." Her body flashed an amber-honey color briefly before she put her wand back behind her ear while Harry looked at her in confusion.

"Why did you do that? Didn't you just say you could die?"

"If I lie to you, yes," she said. "But, I need you to realize that I'm telling the truth and to believe me. If you don't, then we both will become slaves to controllers."

Now Harry was worried. "What do you mean?"

"Do you realize that I honestly cannot lie now? That the oath I took keeps me from it?"

Harry nodded, trusting the girl regardless, but finding it a plausible explanation for what she said and the light that flashed when she sealed the oath. They spoke regularly during and after DA meetings. He had found a form of kindred spirit within her and felt as close to her as he did Hermione, but in a slightly different way. Hermione had earned his trust and respect through action and having stuck with him through literally everything. Even Ron did not have that kind of history, which was why he was strongly wondering about their friendship. He would forsake Harry any time the school was against him or Harry had something that he wanted; status as a Tri-Wizard champion and distancing himself during their second year the most notable, along with his actions after learning about Harry's invisibility cloak and Firebolt. Luna had a life almost identical to his own, minus the physical abuse until she started Hogwarts, and he felt closer to her for that reason. They were very much alike, except he had Ron and Hermione where Luna had always been alone. It made him decide very early on to be there for her whenever she needed him. He would have done anything for a friend when he was alone, and he was sure she was much the same. He just had no idea how accurate he was.

"Then please realize, even when I say things that you think are impossible or not likely, that I _am_ telling the truth," Luna pled.

"I'd have trusted you even without the oath," he said honestly, making Luna smile depreciatingly.

"I've a lot to tell you, and most of it is very, very bad. It's actually going to be very disheartening, especially now, but if you don't hear it before we go home for the summer, we will lose ourselves and any hope of having any kind of future that we will be happy or even content in."

"Go ahead," he said, sighing. The day was full of horrible news.

"The first thing I need to tell you is that I am a partial Empath and an Oracle. Not a Seer, but an Oracle."

"You say that like it's important, but I don't know the difference," Harry said with drawn eyebrows.

Luna scowled. Honestly, what was that old bat teaching in Divination! "An Empath can feel another's emotions and when a person lies to them. A Seer makes prophecies where paths in time and people converge at various nexus points. She Sees a single event and offers a riddle to explain the situation of that meeting in Time, using riddles to ensure the vision's safety. Even more, visions won't always come true because there are so many different paths the future can take, so something a Seer Sees may be for a future that won't happen any longer. An Oracle, however, can see the flow of Time based on various decisions a person makes instead of world-changing points in the time stream. I can look forward to see what happens if you choose to have orange juice or if you have pumpkin juice for breakfast and see how that single choice affects the rest of the day and beyond."

Harry's eyes widened as he realized what she was saying. "You mean you can see the future to see what will happen if I wanted to do one thing or another so that I could make the right choice? Or you or Hermione or something?"

Luna winced, not happy that his mind went directly to where everyone's did. Everyone wanted an Oracle's power to make the 'right' choices and be used like tools, losing their humanity to whoever learns to control them. "Yes. I can't see all things, though. The more important the situation, the more complex the futures I see, which means the less of them I can observe. They are also more likely to be misinterpreted or fuzzy if they're so vast and the farther out that I go. I can see tomorrow with little to no problems, but I cannot see a month out for much beyond mildly important matters yet. As an example, I may see you kill someone, but where I could see it happening tomorrow, and get an understanding of the why of it, perhaps self defense, but if I were to see this happening in three months, I may not be able to tell if it is self defense or if they just made you angry or what. I may not even be able to see how you killed them, only that you did. I would try to base it on your personality to help, but it is not exact."

"Is that why you always pretend to be somewhat odd?" Harry asked gently, not wanted to offend his friend.

She smiled at him. "I always suspected you knew about how I acted. Looking at a person can activate my Sight randomly, and it is sometimes rather painful to See, so I try my best not to look at everyone, especially those who are bad. I do believe in many of the creatures I mention, but sometimes, I substitute them to speak in code for what I know is going on to try and help people subtly without being so obvious as to get caught. It's a part of the nature of an Oracle to need to be heard. I've had to hide the things I can do in fear of being found out. People like myself get used and enslaved against our will when we cannot hide our abilities."

Harry nodded, taking a deep breath. He wanted to ask this before his last question, but the other had come out first. "What about Sirius? Did you know he was going to die tonight?"

Luna jerked as if he had just slapped her, but nodded, speaking before he yelled when he took a deep breath. "If I hadn't allowed things to happen as they had, and tried to stop you, then Sirius would have lived through the night, but he would have died through torture in about a week, along with Hermione, though she would have been ... used ... for a long, long time by the Death Eaters and memory spheres sent to you to break you. They would have been far less protected outside of Hogwarts and Voldemort would have found them to be excellent targets to get to you since Dumbledore doesn't have Hermione's house protected by even a single ward and they're too expensive for her family to get any decent ones added."

Harry felt her shudder in his arms while she spoke and instinctively tightened his grip. He suddenly realized that she would have seen those things. Sirius went quickly, and it was supposed to be painless. And he would have destroyed everyone and everything in retaliation if they tried to hurt Hermione like that. "I ... Thank you. I don't know what I'd have done if that had happened."

"Yes you do," Luna said quietly, looking into Harry's eyes as he looked up in surprise. Then he stopped denying it. He was devoted to Hermione at a degree that honestly scared him. He had not grown up with friends or partners in things, no allies in any way to be honest, so he had no knowledge of limits on how much was too much. He was aware of this, too, so he actively tried to go against his instincts and, unfortunately, that usually meant siding with Ron and trying to be a little less obvious in his feelings for her.

Harry was, simply put, far more screwed up than he thought. He recognized his odd feelings for Hermione and thought they were wrong, that whatever they were was abnormal and too strong, maybe even obsessive, which scared the hell out of him. The truth of the matter was that it was simple love he felt. So, quite frankly, he was so screwed up that he was terrified of his feelings when he had fallen in love.

Unaware that Harry was examining the scope of his feelings for Hermione, or at least that he thought they were wrong, Luna continued, speaking in the same quiet, but sure tones. "If they hurt Hermione, you would have begun hunting down and destroying anyone who might even have a shred of information until you could find her, killing anyone who would dare harm her. You would have held no mercy and tortured every ounce of information out of anyone sympathetic to Voldemort, and then after rescuing her, you would have gone out to continue the job purely out of retribution, taking her memories to hunt down each and every one of them, letting her watch as you destroyed them in ones and twos," she said, getting quieter. "I've seen your rage and the dedication you would have taken in that path, just so she could feel safer at night."

Luna noticed his eyes drift to the floor in shame, the feeling tingling in the back of her mind as, while he felt shamed, he also felt it would be worth it for her, and she lifted his head back up so he could look into her eyes as she finished. "You would do everything in your power to find and protect her, Harry. To make her feel safe and know that the monsters in the dark have been destroyed. You would have found those monsters and killed them so they couldn't come out of the shadows later to hurt again. And that is nothing to be ashamed of. Do you understand me?"

Harry smiled a very small smile and nodded. "I do. Thanks." He hugged her again tightly, liking the feeling and knowing she did, too.

"You're welcome. But now I have a lot of bad news to give you. Things that will probably seem even worse than the rest of this night." She felt him stiffen in her arms and sighed.

"Harry, I am going to be blunt, because I can't think of a good way to say it gently," she said. "Dumbledore has been manipulating you with the help of the Weasleys and several others so that they can have your money, your political power, your properties and other such things."

Harry blinked, and then blinked again. "What?"

"Please remember I sword a magical oath to tell the truth, alright?" She asked, getting a terrified nod from the boy. "I'm going to tell you the things I've learned and then I'll explain why I'm telling you everything at the end."

Luna situated herself so that she could face Harry better since he pulled out of her hug. "Dumbledore is not a good man. He has become complacent in his power and does not wish to see it lost. You are a threat to that power as many see your having defeated Voldemort as a baby to make you the next coming of Dumbledore or even Merlin himself. He knows that it will come out that he is back, so Dumbledore is going to up his game and be even worse with the public calling for you to be the one to save them."

"Molly has plans to have Ginny seduce you, who already has plans to 'accidentally' walk in on you when you return to the Burrow while naked so that she can make sure you start thinking about her if nothing else, before resorting to love potions just like her mother did for Arthur."

"What!" Harry shrieked, sounding rather girlish. In hindsight, a manly yell would have been better. "She's Ron's sister! He'd kill me if I were to touch her! Much less see her naked!"

"Ron has similar plans for Hermione, only he plans on walking in on her and saying he thought it was you and that the two of you were close enough and did it at school so it wouldn't be considered weird," she said, smartly ignoring Harry's growl. "And he will be okay with it because it has always been the plan when Dumbledore got him to find your compartment in your first year. And really, have you ever seen every compartment full in the past? You've told many people how you met the Weasleys and Ronald in particular."

Harry shook his head dumbly, answering her question as thoughts trailed through his head. Molly was going to drug him? Ginny flash him? Well, okay, that would not exactly be horrible, she was pretty, but they were going to drug Hermione? Hell no! He would not have believed it, even threatened to hex the blonde girl for saying these things, but she _had_ taken that oath. Swallowing, Harry decided to go from the beginning. "Okay. What do you know?"

"People I know you should be wary of are Dumbledore, Snape, Molly, Ron and Ginny Weasley, though I'm unsure of any of the others. Also, you know to suspect the usuals. I think Hermione is fully loyal to you, but that she still has to release her dependence on authority figures. She got much better after your second year from what I can remember of her attitude at that time, it seemed, but that seemed to be more because of that foolish teacher we all had."

"And Dumbledore's manipulations? Molly's? Do you know those ones?" Harry asked, giving up on being surprised. He would be pissed off later. Right now, he was basically numb inside.

"I'm unsure, as I can only see a little ways out from the present since you have several big decisions to make in a relatively short period of time to make them. But, I would recommend going to a healer and being looked over. My mother taught me to sense magic, it's how to see many of the creatures I mention, and yours seems off somehow. It fluctuates badly, and it shouldn't. Many parents place power blocks on their children to help control magical outbursts, but Madame Pomfrey should have found and removed them. Daddy could look for those, if you would like. He has to look for wards and such for when he goes on his hunts in case he finds magical locations that are protected. It isn't common, but happens, so he could check for you."

"I know Dumbledore has plans to control you, keep you separated from Hermione, gain control over your vaults and most likely have you die fighting Voldemort. Look at Prefects this year; Ronald was one when it should clearly have been you. Molly was actually a Slytherin, and rightly so. So her plans are simply for the betterment of her family."

"What do you mean separate me from Hermione?" He asked, ignoring the fact that the old man planned to have him die.

"Anyone who knows Ronald even in the barest of terms knows that he is power hungry and vengeful, liable to use his authority as Prefect against others, but he was chosen over you for the position when it is you always saving the school and those within. And knowing he plans to dose Hermione with a love and lust potion to keep her interested in Ronald, it only stands to reason that he wishes that outcome. It's made even more clear when you realize how ignorant of the wizarding world you are, the fact that you know nothing of your parents except by word of mouth and have never picked up their biographies and are left to a place each summer where you cannot learn magic."

Harry growled and looked around, thinking furiously. Dumbledore was an enemy. He would have to die. No one hurt Hermione. She was too important.

"Harry, there is more to this," Luna said, finally letting her own worry show.

"Huh?" Harry asked, looking at the girl and taking note of her apparent worry. "What is it?"

"Like I said, I'm an Oracle and have very minor Empath abilities. I normally try to hide this, but Dumbledore has recently learned about it. I'm not sure how, but he did and had Snape brew some form of binding potion. Normally, I can't see the future of my own life, but I saw yours where I was being used against you under his command." Luna spun slightly and threw her right leg over Harry, straddling him, desperately trying to convey her urgency and fear and he could see it in her eyes. Their usual haze was gone and they shone with unshed tears as she pled with him for help.

"Harry, I can't be his! He'll force me to do horrible things and to work against you and I'll eventually just be this mindless ... _thing_ that he pulls out whenever he wants to see about his every decision. If I belong to him, there will be no chance for anyone, for any of us, and he'll make things horrible! He's not Light! He is a horrible, horrible man!"

"I don't understand," Harry said, pulling Luna into a hug helplessly. "What can I do? Do you have a plan so I can help or anything?" He felt Luna nod on his shoulder before she pulled back and looked at him with tears trailing down her cheeks.

"As Lord Potter, you'll be able to protect me under certain conditions if I were to fall under your authority. As Lord Potter, you'll also be automatically emancipated since no one is allowed to have legal control over any Lord because of the authority and power it would give them. Being yours, he can't get me, and I will help you, as he wants me for himself, for protecting me. You won't make me lose myself. You'll make me happy, I know it. I'll be happy, you'll be happy and everyone who stands with us will have a chance for a real future."

"I still don't understand," Harry said quietly, confusedly. He just did not know how to help her.

"Do you trust me?" She asked, looking into his eyes as she hiccuped lightly now that her tears had slowed slightly.

Harry looked back into her eyes, seeing a a vulnerable and pleading expression and nodded, not sure what to say.

Luna smiled warmly and laid her head on his shoulder, sniffling wetly and shook with silent tremors as she prepared to do the only thing she could See that provided any form of happiness for either of them. She had spent a long time going through the different things she could do here, how much to tell him, how little, what to say and not say and her next action, especially. For all of her different options, this was the only one that she did not See ending with her becoming Dumbledore's puppet or taken from Harry and Harry being outright killed within a month. But it still terrified her. This had been her mother's most horrified nightmare, to be bound, and Luna was about to do it willingly.

"Then, as Lord Potter, accept what I am about to offer," she said into his shoulder, taking what strength she could from him before leaning back and holding herself steady with her hands on his shoulders as she sat in his lap, one leg on the outside of his own on both sides of him. With only a slight hesitation, she leaned forward and kissed him on the lips, her tears stopping.

"Luna, wha-"

"Shh," she stopped him with a finger to his lips. "I just didn't want to do this without having a chance to do that freely." She pulled her wand from behind her ear and laid back down across his chest, resting her head on his shoulder again before speaking clearly and carefully after letting out a ragged breath to steady herself.

"I, Luna Celeste Lovegood, do hereby swear of myself in mind, body, soul and spirit with all that I am and have within this world as property of Lord Harry James Potter. I am his to do with as he pleases, and am protected against being offered, given, taken, won or sold to any other man and he promises to take care of me and my interests and needs, so long as they never interfere with his own, and will be, from this point forward, his Alpha slave, to be under his protection and never sent away without my own consent."

She felt him take a deep breath to say something, so she quickly reached her hand up and covered his mouth gently, leaning back so they could see each other. "Do you, Lord Harry James Potter, accept this agreement with myself, Luna Celeste Lovegood?"

Harry's initial reaction, once he realized what she was saying and offering was to stop her right away, but when her hand covered his mouth, he only looked at her with horrified eyes. As she asked if he accepted, he wanted to deny her, to tell her no, but he saw a tear-stained face with a sad smile as she mouthed something to him. His gaze immediately dropped to where her lips, which had reddened, became puffy and shone with her tears that had fallen to them, began mouthing to him, pleading with him, _'Please, trust me.'_

Harry looked up into her eyes and could only nod, which caused her to hesitantly lower her hand, giving him the chance he needed. "I, Lord Harry James Potter, accept."

Luna began to sob in happy tears as she smiled, confusing him greatly as she fell against his chest again, hugging the stuffing out of him. "So mote it be," she whispered carefully, sealing the agreement and causing both of them to flash into brilliance as their bodies lit, their powers pulsating and sealing the deal.

Harry reached up and stroked Luna's hair as she began to mumble thank you's into his shoulder, feeling an odd sense of relief in the back of his mind. "Luna?" He asked. "Luna, are you okay? What exactly did you just do?"

Luna leaned back again, this time with a bright smile even though the tear streaks were still there. He also noticed a glint of gold around her neck that wasn't there earlier. She now wore a golden choker made of what looked like silk around the base of her neck that seemed to fit as a second skin at only an inch in height and with an ornate 'P' at the very front, centered on her throat. Looking down, he noticed a thin band of similar material on his wrist, tingling slightly. It felt _right_ and as though it belonged. And he had the oddest sense of territorial jealousy at the idea that any other person may see it.

"Harry, this was the only option we had. If I took any of the other options, I would have been Dumbledore's before a month was out and you would have become ensnared in potions and eventually died."

"What exactly did we do, though?" He asked carefully, looking at her face and wondering what exactly just happened.

Luna blushed and looked down slightly. "I gave myself to you as your slave," she said quietly.

"Hermione's gonna kill me!" Harry screeched, the first thing coming to his mind being his best friend's righteous fury and looked around in terror as if expecting her to apparate from the Hospital Wing to find him.

Luna giggled and rocked joyously in his lap before shaking her head. "No, she will understand. Especially if we explain it properly. She has her own doubts about the Headmaster and Ronald already, so it won't be too difficult to get her to join us."

"I'm not so sure," he said lowly, thinking through plans of self-preservation. Luna decided it would be best not to warn him that she got the idea to become his slave by seeing that he was supposed to get another one in a few weeks. Especially when she could not see who it was to be. "So, you basically have to do whatever I say now, or what?" He asked, wondering just what he got himself in to.

Luna nodded. "Basically, yes. You can't give me to anyone else in any way, to make sure there were no magical means Dumbledore could use to transfer me, though. But, I used one of the Old Magick oaths to make me your slave, but to give myself a modicum of power to protect myself. I wonder if it's working fully, though," she asked with furrowed brows.

Harry shrugged. "Lift your left arm," he said, watching as she did so as she shook her head.

"That's not the protection I mean. Like I said, I used an Old Magick oath. I made sure that you could never give me away in any way or sell me or even trade me and that you or anyone else couldn't just send me away to live out the rest of my days somewhere far off and secluded and added in a bit about my own interests and needs as well. That is supposed to give me the ability to work in my own interests, at least a little, so I don't change like a normal slave would."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Basically, things I really don't want to do or would hurt me, I should be able to fight against and not do," she said with a shrug. "Normal slaves will be altered by magic to be the perfect slave for their master's needs, no matter what it is that needs to be done so that they will eventually do literally anything and crave to do anything and take orders. I put in that bit for myself so I keep my own mind, I think."

"How can we test that? I wouldn't make you do anything you didn't want to do anyway," he said, getting a nod from Luna in agreement.

Luna pondered for a moment as Harry shifted uncomfortably underneath of her and she realized how they were positioned. She hadn't considered it earlier because it was the easiest way for them to look at each other and she had been desperate enough to begin to beg and had not realized how she moved onto him. She just needed to be sure she could look into his eyes so he knew how badly she needed him to believe her. But, now that she had been there a little while, she realized Harry had noticed before she did and reacted.

Well, one way to find out, and it isn't like it wasn't going to happen in the future. A lot.

"I have an idea," she told him, sliding off of him and to the floor onto her knees. She could tell he understood as his face flushed and his eyes widened. "Give me the order, Harry," she said quietly, gently rubbing her hand on his thigh very lightly, silently anticipating the opportunity to see him. Just like him, she was a hormonal teenager and had naughty dreams. He always featured heavily in them because of the connection they shared and her caring for him, though.

"But, Luna! What if you can't stop yourself!" He asked, horrified at what she was suggesting.

Luna simply shrugged. "If I can stop myself, then we will know that I can. If I can't by the time you _finish_, then I won't be upset. I promise you, I will be okay with whatever happens because of this and I don't want you to stop me so I have time to try myself." She could see the fight warring behind his eyes. A part of him wanted this, as pretty much any teenaged male would, but he didn't want to _force_ her into such a situation, while that earlier part of him did at least to some degree. She also knew he wanted Hermione, but Luna planned on making sure everything came out happy for all of them if she could. She could almost see that path open to her. It would just require a little more work and talking to Hermione about all of this while with Harry at the same time.

"Go ahead, Harry."

Harry looked down and her, his blush intensified and he asked, "what ... er, what am I supposed to say?"

Luna smiled slightly, glad to have gotten past the first barrier of his self restraint. Most of that wouldn't be able to remain if they were to survive. "Just tell me what to do."

"Er," he said as his eyes skittered around the room as if looking for someone who may be watching. Moments later, he sighed and swallowed thickly. "Er. Luna, go ahead and.. er."

"Blowjob, Harry," Luna offered in light amusement, trying to help him with the word he seemed to be having trouble with, making him look as though his face was stained with the blood rushing to it, and lower.

"Er, yes. Give me a b-blowjob, Luna."

Luna tried to resist his order initially, but felt not a desire, as she would have expected, but an actual, physical _need_ to do what he had just told her. As she reached up and began to slowly unbutton and then unzip his pants, she took the moment before he was fully out to examine the feeling inside. It was like her entire body was hyper-aware and hyper-sensitive and literally _craved_ to touch him and do what he told her. It was nearly maddening to her to not have him in her hand and to taste him.

[Lemon Start]

She reached her hand in and grasped his length in her grip firmly and maneuvered him out, her eyes widening as she realized Fate had compensated him at least in some way for his seriously screwed up life. He was a foot long and her fingers could not even wrap around him fully because of his girth. Suddenly, she remembered she was supposed to fight his order and attempted to do so, trying to pull herself backwards even as she leaned forward and licked him from base to length, realizing the urge to do this was taken down to an almost non-existent level as she fought.

Harry moaned as she slowly licked up his length as Luna realized she only had to try just a touch harder and she could break the urge. Hearing him, she smiled and stopped fighting, letting it come back with a massive vengeance. She moaned out loud without realizing as she leaned forward and engulfed him into her mouth, sating some of that need that was within her and not regretting it in the slightest.

"Oh god, Luna!" Harry moaned out as she began bobbing up and down, swirling her tongue around the tip of his engorged cock and began to pump her hand furiously up and down, knowing the process as _Teen Witch Weekly_ had pointers for how to do the job, though she honestly never could figure out why it was in the magazine for teenagers. It didn't take her long to realize that he began to taste different after a few licks at the top of his dick and realized it was precum, something she was very sure was a new favorite of hers.

She felt Harry place his hands on the back of her head and was worried he was about to start moving her himself, but felt him holding her head as she bobbed, mumbling and breathing heavily as she worked. The quirky blonde absolutely refused to release him from her mouth and began to moan as she let herself enjoy the motions. It was an odd sort of satisfaction and enjoyment that she experienced as she felt Harry begin to thrust up and down with very small movements as she sucked him off. His dick was extremely hot and smooth, but she loved feeling and tasting it within her mouth and absolutely loved hearing him moan, turning it into a small game and began trying different things to make him make certain sounds.

"Oh god, Luna!" That was definitely her favorite. "Luna, I think I'm about to come!" Perhaps second favorite. That last comment was definitely her favorite now.

The girl began bobbing faster and lavishing him with her tongue as his grip on her head firmed and he suddenly pulled back, trying to get her off of him so she didn't have to taste him. She followed, more because she felt a slight urge to do as he commanded, even if it wasn't vocal, and was pulled off of him, much to her ire. Instead, she quickly opened her mouth as he erupted and let him shoot into her mouth and cover her chin as he released her with a yell, allowing her to go back down and take him into her mouth again, continuing to bob up and down while swallowing each time he shot into her mouth, tasting him.

"L-L-Luna," he gasped, finally feeling her come off of him slowly and cleaning his shaft of any remaining fluids with her tongue. As she left his phallus with a pop, she smiled and got up beside him, hugging him tightly.

[Lemon End]

"In case you are worried or curious, I was able to fight the order before actually taking you into my mouth," she told him. "I just decided I didn't want to."

"What?" He asked surprised. "You mean you...," he trailed off, not sure how to say it again.

"Sucked you dry and sated my carnal lusts?" She supplied helpfully, making Harry smile

"Remind me to thank whoever is responsible for your wonderful conversation skills," he said with a cheeky grin, making Luna laugh. For some reason, the sound made him happy and he appreciated it as they snuggled on the couch.

Luna cleared her throat daintily, touching his thigh. "Unless you'd like to do something with it, you may want to put that away."

Filled with embarrassment and feeling very self-conscious, he did so before he became hard again. "Erm, so, what happens from here?" He asked, not sure what to do.

"Well, I was able to fight your order, but I'm not completely sure if it was because I wanted to or if it was because you were okay with it if I was able to since you already gave me permission to fight the order. If it's a battle of wills between us, I don't know. But, we can see about that once we come to that with another test later, I suppose," she said, cuddling under Harry's arm and debating how much to explain for now.

"We need to protect Hermione. Explain things before she returns to the Burrow or she will be used against us without her consent, along with being given to Ron during that time. We'll need to protect her parents as well, or they will be used to get to her. We'll need to talk to the goblins. They can be excellent allies to those with money and power, which you have both in abundance, and stay away from the Weasleys."

She turned to him and he saw her nose twitch as she considered her next thoughts. "We need to come up with our own side in this war, and the goblins will be willing to help us, assuming we can assure them that we are genuine in our plans. The other magical races will be more apt to believe us if we have the backing of the goblins. Goblins rarely ally with anyone and will label someone an enemy for most forms of rudeness."

Harry nodded, running his hand up and down Luna's arm unconsciously as she leaned against him again. Only Luna knew that it was the bond forming between them that pushed them to be physically close, particularly since both had sex on the mind. It eased the process and required less magic to be fully formed as long as they were close enough that the magic didn't have to bridge the space between them, as well. Still, she relished in the innocent-seeming gesture. She so missed honest, physical contact that didn't come about just before some nasty prank. It was a shame that Harry was still reacting to the feelings left over from her act of fellatio on him that made him so attentative. Perhaps she and Hermione could work on that with him.

"We need to be very careful with how we tell Hermione about this. Otherwise, I'm screwed."

Luna scrunched up her face, paths in time and choice flashing through her head as she considered his question and her own thoughts. "I thought that was the point."

Harry choked in surprise.

xXxXxXx

"How did the brat take it?" Snape asked the Headmaster, using his occlumency training to memorize the anguish and horror on the boy's face after the Headmaster placed the memory of the event into projection viewing mode in his pensieve so they could sit back and enjoy it together. Snape was almost on the verge of smiling as Dumbledore lowered the lights and increased the size of the projection so they could better see the details.

"I was almost sure he had broken through at least some of the seals I had placed on him when he destroyed the many devices within my office," Albus said as Harry's magic twisted the multitude of shiny silver baubles throughout his office into formless blobs of molten metal. "Thankfully, his magic only used those monitoring devices as an outlet while the residual twisted about my office and moved things around as far as I could tell. Unfortunately, his aura was active, so I wasn't able to scan him."

"So, all of your monitoring devices are destroyed?" Snape asked, impressed despite himself.

"Indeed. All but the ones that monitor his health status. All of the ones that actively controlled him were attacked during his bout of childishness. It would seem his magic reacted against being controlled. It was rather infuriating," Albus said with a frown, popping one of his lemon drops into his mouth; the ones laced with calming draught. "It will take me nearly the whole summer to replace the devices to bind to him again."

"How does Black getting himself killed affect our plans?"

"Not much, to be perfectly honest with you, though I had to tell him about the prophecy to keep him from doing something foolish like striking out on his own. I can use this opportunity to isolate and then impress upon Harry how he needs some guidance to control his mind. I was thinking about giving him to you for some occlumency training to let you play with him for a little while."

Snape grinned widely, already thinking of the more painful means of 'teaching' the brat to occlude his mind. Including ones that blocked the memories of glamors on the boy to make him look like his mother while Snape took the boy from behind. He did so love those green eyes. He hadn't had the opportunity as of yet and was looking forward to it, even if it meant raping the boy in the arse. Obliviation was such a wonderful tool. "Thank you," Snape simpered out, feeling an incredible sense of joy. He would know everything the mutated spawn of James Potter tried to hide from him and he could cause an inordinate amount of pain while doing so. "What about the compulsions? His attitude this year has been worse than usual. I assume they have been breaking?"

Dumbledore sighed and nodded. "Yes. His mind is even stronger than I feared. It would seem placing him with the Dursleys had the opposite affect I was hoping for. Rather than allowing himself to mold to my design and die when made to, he fights being ordered about. While his sense of self was never allowed to become anything more than it was as a child, the very foundation of his nature is as set as diamond. Strength of mind, the ability to endure, an intense desire to protect things he considers his and even his instinctive nature to fight against those who would control him all formed from his placement with them when I had hoped it would destroy each of those things. They were amusing in the beginning, but now I am finding myself perturbed. It is all the more distressing when taken into account with Granger trying to help him become his own person. I learned about that defense club of his after they had already started it, so decided it was easier to allow him to continue it than stop it and obliviate the lot of them. I was worried any of them may be able to break free of the obliviations and then leave me with hell to clean up afterwards."

"I don't think the brat can fight potions. We can place them in the standard Weasley care packages."

"I already have need for such, yes," Albus said with a warm smile. "I will need you to create the _Regere Absolutus_ potion, if you have the ingredients. Key it to the youngest Weasley, if possible. She will, of course, grant me full control but, in the off chance that he survives, we will need him to not fight our management later."

Snape nodded, mentally going through his stores. "I was not aware things were so bad you were looking into going to your failsafe. The Absolute Control potion will take a full five separate parts and I only have the components needed for four of them. It will take me three to five weeks to get the ... _controversial_ bits needed for the fifth. We will have to wait until then as they must be ingested in a particular order, this last being the fourth. I assume you have the girl's menstrual blood for the targeting potion?"

Albus waved off the man's concern. "Of course. No need to worry, Severus. I will make sure Harry is isolated until then before allowing him to go to the Burrow."

"You may want to warn Molly," Snape advised, more to cover his own ass than because he cared. Frankly, he would love to hear the result, but knew Molly would come down on him like a bat, or banshee, out of Hell. "The second potion contains enough of a lusting effect that he is very likely to rape the girl for several days once taken with the binding potion at the end. Attempting to stop him will end with the deaths of anyone who will attempt to do so. It will be too strong for him to worry about fatigue or loss of stamina."

Dumbledore chuckled momentarily, his eyes twinkling merrily. "I'm sure that would rather upset Molly if young Ginevra didn't become pregnant from it. I dare say that only the Potter coffers would be capable of calming her."

"The Potter brat would give them to her, too, even if he didn't get the little bint pregnant."

"We may have to keep that as a plan 'B' in case all else fails."

"Are you still doing this for Granger and the Weasley oaf?"

"Yes," Dumbledore said simply. "I have long since promised Ronald the use of Miss Granger's body to suit his needs. Molly raised him to be a proper pureblood, but without the intelligence, he simply thinks with his basic desires, which turned to Granger when he hit puberty. It, along with another pretty girl, were his requests in addition to the money since he was disheartened to realize Miss Granger was not one of those girls who were planning to sleep with Harry and himself and that he could not pursue other women during his time on this assignment. I must say, obliviating that experience from her mind required three attempts! I was most shocked that she held onto her anger so greatly."

"I wasn't aware he had tried anything with her," Snape said, one eyebrow raised in surprise. _'Leave it to the littlest bastard of them all to think with his prick instead of using any cunning. And to think he was almost put into Slytherin!'_

"Yes. During their fourth year he tried to talk her into something physical and groped her, causing her to kick him in the groin. Even after the obliviation, the girl stayed away from him throughout much of the time between Halloween and the First Task. She's been suspicious of Mister Weasley and my office since then. Having her go under water as Mister Krum's hostage had her furious enough to break through again, as well. She was even able to catch that Mister Weasley and Harry were on horrible terms when no one else dared question it. I cannot have her remain at Harry's side as she has, so it seems Mister Weasley will be getting his first concubine within the week and this potion will keep her meek and controllable to young Ronald without any doubts. And the boy is too hotheaded to not take advantage of her while he can, so we will probably have to put her on a contraceptive regimen to ensure she doesn't become pregnant while her parents or students could cause a ruckus."

"I'll make something to settle our stomachs," Snape sneered, much to Dumbledore's amusement.

"Yes, I'm sure we'll need it. The boy doesn't exactly think things through. How he manages so well at chess, I have no clue. Regardless, I'm hoping to use the young Miss Weasley as a distraction towards Harry when Sirius' will is read. My contact on the inside advises that Mister Potter will be well outside of my control if he attends, but was apparently bound by oath not to divulge anything beyond that."

"How will she distract him?" Snape asked. "Surely he would expect Ron to be there if they are simply to spend time together and the boy thinks of her as nothing more than Weasley's sister. I've read it in his mind often enough to know."

"I'm going to gift her with a necklace to give to him and will enchant it with a continuous compulsion charm to keep him interested in whatever she blathers on about and will offer her a lust potion to put in their drink if she wishes to have him."

"Ah," Severus said, pleased. Perhaps he could get something similar to give to Draco. The boy needed some assistance with women. Lucius was getting upset that the boy had not claimed one as of yet, arranged marriages aside. And they were all a bit worried with how much time he spent with Crabbe and Goyle.

xXxXxXx

Harry stayed silent all of two days later, having taken Luna's advice to heart and talking as little as possible. He made very sure to eat nothing that wasn't prepared by Dobby after Luna suggested hiring the little guy along with Winky, though she was used more for errands that Luna came up with. Aside from an offer of undying loyalty, Harry thought it went very similar to hiring a person for a regular job. And aside from being called 'Master' more often, which he still found weird coming from Luna even though she refused to call him anything else when they were alone after that first night, they were wonderful to have.

Dobby was absolutely devastated when he learned Luna had become his first slave and was his Alpha, but the blonde woman had taken care of the situation wonderfully. Dobby would be in charge of all House Elves and any other slaves they got outside of human ones, as they would fall under her authority, and her authority would supersede any of Dobby's, but the little elf had been touched, immediately binding himself to Harry and agreeing to Luna's terms along with Winky. And Winky was thrilled to be a part of a family again, even going around and looking at all of the Potter houses that Harry apparently now had after magically claiming his Lordship. It seemed he immediately emancipated himself after magically claiming his rightful title and both he and his house elves suddenly knew about his properties.

The last two days while Hermione and Ron were in the hospital wing, Harry had taken the time to stay in the Room of Requirement where only Luna, Ginny and Neville had found him. Luna was almost constantly by his side, telling the other two that he was worried about how they were going to react to him having led them there and gauging their reactions. Both had adamantly denied his responsibility and believed what they said. It was odd, really. They truly did seem to respect him, even Ginny. That, Luna had not been expecting.

Oh, she still saw Ginny touching Harry in ways that were definitely more than friendly, and offering to stay with him the night before had been a little less than subtle, but Harry had been watching for things like that now. He caught what she was really hinting at, thanking her, even hinting that he may accept her offer some time after visiting the Burrow, but was too worried to do anything just then. The girl blushed furiously, smiled, kissed him on the corner of his mouth long enough to make Neville blush and then promised him she was always there for him.

Assuring her that he would keep it in mind, he asked all of them for some time to be alone and thanked them for trying, allowing Luna the chance to say she'd bring back some food for him as an excuse to remain.

The day after the Ministry fiasco, the _Daily Prophet_ had printed a long article, only mentioning Harry's name and that he had been there with five others, that explained that Voldemort was really and truly back. They completely glossed over the fact that they had been running a constant smear campaign for a full year on Harry and Dumbledore and confessed their beliefs that those two would lead everyone to a sure victory.

The majority of the school had suddenly flocked to Harry's banner, but none of them had been able to find him. And those that knew weren't going to tell anyone else. And acting on Luna's advice, Harry had actually left long enough to find Lavender Brown and innocently comment about how Ron had fought at the Ministry and was hurting. He had long since known that the girl was a decent girl, but not overly bright, and certainly loved a good story. So he suggested she find Ron on the train when she could get a story from his perspective, having heard that he had interesting fights but unable to know for sure since he had let Ron recuperate in the Hospital Wing.

When all was said and done, Harry had come out of the Room of Requirement only one other time as everyone was leaving for the train ride home and met up with Ron and Hermione, trying to glean some kind of information about who they really were. Sitting with Ron, Hermione, Luna, Ginny and Neville, their compartment had easily become full and those who wanted to gawk and gossip were forced to sit elsewhere.

Ten minutes into the ride, however, the door thunked open and Lavender stuck her head in, looking immediately to Ron. "Hey Ron?" She asked with two pretty, giggling girls behind her. "We heard you were a part of the raid at the Ministry and were wondering if you wanted to come sit with us in the other compartment and tell us about it."

Ron's grin threatened to split his face as he nodded frantically and got up. "Sure!"

"Oh my god!" Lavender exclaimed, seeing the nearly faded scars left on his arm from being attacked by things that looked like brains that he had summoned onto himself when he flubbed the summoning charm. "Did you get those scars there!"

"Yup! Earned 'em fighting eight Death Eaters hand-to-hand, and-" he was cut off as the door closed, leaving those within the compartment either disgusted, Ginny and Hermione, amused, Neville and Harry, or frowning at potential futures, Luna. It would seem Lavender was less bright than she had thought and would let Ronald touch things he shouldn't when the next school year began, leading him to lust for her as well. Perhaps there was a way to help her before Ron was able to tell Dumbledore who else he desired.

"I can _not_ believe that brainless twit is actually believing him!" Hermione scoffed.

Harry had a rush of surety that Hermione actually believed herself and pondered at its source.

"Well, Hermione, she _is_ more interested in social standing than intelligence," Luna said delicately, getting a snort in return.

"Crookshanks would have done better on his OWL's than Lavender did," she said scathingly. "Honestly, if she thinks that Ron would be able to fight a grown man, much less _eight_ of them, with his bare hands, she is even more idiotic than I had assumed."

Ginny smirked and eyed the bushy-haired brunette. "Someone sounds like they're a little jealous," she said amusedly, getting a shocked expression from Hermione that caused Neville and Ginny to laugh.

Hermione scowled and then finally huffed, blowing a few strands of hair out of her face and turning to Harry with sympathetic eyes. "How are you holding up, Harry?"

Harry took a few moments to consider how he actually felt and eventually shrugged. "I'm doing a lot better, actually. I never really had enough time to really bond to Sirius and I was feeling worse that you guys got hurt than anything else. Luna helped me all of yesterday and the past two nights. We talked about her mum and she gave me some really good ... advice," he said, the pause barely noticeable which, thankfully, no one caught save for the blonde in question who's smile was misinterpreted as proud. Well, perhaps not misinterpreted, but was thought to be for a completely different reason.

"What kind of advice would _that_ be?" Ginny asked, her tone very slightly disbelieving. She honestly could not see the Ravenclaw offering any form of advice that wasn't all about made-up creatures doing even odder made-up things.

However, Harry could feel a burst of jealousy, resentment and anger as Ginny spoke, allowing him to catch the tone as he realized the feelings were coming from the same part that let him know how Luna was doing, even without having to ask her. "The helpful kind," he clipped, making it obvious he wasn't going to say more and causing Ginny to narrow her eyes at Luna curiously and Hermione to smile at her thankfully.

xXxXxXx

As everyone stepped off of the train, Luna handed Harry a small coin that he immediately put into his mouth as she left to find her father. He noticed several of the Order members berating his Uncle, silently wondering what they were doing. He would have been worried, knowing that it would greatly anger his Uncle, but had plans that didn't involve going back with them.

"Are you going to be okay, Harry?" Hermione asked as Harry took note of the Weasleys meeting up together, giving him a moment without being seen and turning to Hermione.

"Do you trust me, Hermione?" He asked quickly, getting wide eyes and a slow nod.

"Of course, Harry. Why wouldn't I – OOMPH! ... Mm." She was cut off as Harry dipped down and gave her the most _delightful_ kiss on her lips, making her moan into him and close her eyes as she felt his tongue caress her lower lip. Obligingly, she opened her mouth and felt him press something small and hard into her mouth and pull back. She was too out of sorts and heavy-lidded to say or do anything right away, but she quickly shook her head and was about to spit out the thing in her mouth until Harry's voice stopped her.

"What I just gave you is temporarily transfigured. It will go back to being a roll of parchment in about ten minutes, so make sure it's dry and out of your mouth by then. Don't go to the Weasleys until we've spoken and don't eat anything from them. I'll explain everything when we meet up soon, okay?"

Moving the tiny coin to her cheek so she could speak, she furrowed her brow and began to ask what he was talking about before he smiled and kissed her once more on the lips, making her thoughts scatter again.

"By the way, you have the most incredible lips," he said quietly before walking off as he noticed the Weasleys turn to him as Molly began to rush him, hoping to impress upon him the power of her heaving bosom in one large hug. She seemed to have this thing about mashing his face into her chest, he suddenly noticed as air become a priority. She always did it.

Hermione swallowed thickly, suddenly happy she kept the coin in her cheek and walked over to her parents. Her father was scowling at Harry and her mother was bouncing happily on the spot. _'Oh bloody hell! They saw that!'_

xXxXxXx

Harry dawdled long enough that everyone was gone that he had to keep an eye out for before he walked up to Vernon, giving him a jaunty wave and noticing Luna and her father coming up behind the angry man, just as they had planned after ten minutes. "Hello Uncle Vernon. I know you're angry about me taking so long, but I just wanted to let you know that I've got a good reason and-"

He cut off as he saw Luna's dad cast something at Vernon that made his face blank and all signs of hostility shut down before the man turned and left to return to the Dursley residence without Harry, believing that Harry had left with a group of redheads that Xenophilius took care to describe in a fake memory well enough that anyone searching would believe it to be a real memory instead of a fake.

"Hello Mister Potter! I'm Xenophilius Lovegood, but folks call me Xenophilius Lovegood. Luna sent me a letter saying that you would be staying with us this summer for a short while and that you had to hide out from a Dark Lord or two?" He asked, making Harry smile as they shook hands.

"If it isn't any bother, yes. She also said you were able to look at different blocks for a person's magical power and stuff, so I figured I'd ask you if you could help out with that, too."

Xenophilius nodded as they walked to a hidden location where they could take an international portkey to a platform that is used several times a minute so they could return home without anyone sniffing out their trail. "That won't be a problem, lad. If you have them, I can't promise to remove 'em as some are too advanced, but shouldn't have any problems. If we find them, though, I would recommend bringing in a Healer. They are trained for that type of thing. If they're too hard for me, then we can go goblin. They charge for that type of thing, but are the best."

"Oka-AY!" Harry refused to throw up during their flight. He absolutely refused to.

xXxXxXx

**[Author's Notes:] ** – Normally, I'd say what I would envision for this continuum, but I actually plan to start this and the "Champions of Lilith" as my next two Harry Potter stories. What I WILL say, however, is that I want this story to show a natural progression into dark and mildly evil. I don't see a lot of stories where there is that progression. I have only ever seen an event to turn Harry and/or others into the evil creatures they become (which can be done well, and pretty decent, but not what I would like to write first and foremost) and want to see something more complex.

**Luna's Abilities:**

**Sensing Magics**: Luna's mother, knowing what her daughter was, taught her to sense and read magics and aura's. She can read compulsions, harmful magics, benevolent magics and the like. She does that as a way to calm herself down or relieve stress by reading the magics within Hogwarts and reading people's aura's to determine what kind of people they are or to learn some of their secrets.

**Empath:** As with any empathic ability one knows from other sources, Luna is capable of sensing emotions to a mild degree. This manifests itself in only minor ways, however. She can always tell when someone is lying so long as she can see or hear them and is never wrong on that account unless they are being honest, but misleading. If they are being honest and misleading, then she will not be able to understand. However, she cannot sense emotions unless they are very strong or the target is someone she knows; the better she knows them, the better she reads them.

**Oracle:** A Seer would see a point in the time-stream and give a riddle to explain the event and give information on what it is about and how it came to pass, such as the prophecy regarding Harry. Trelawney, for example, explained the point of the defeat of Voldemort, but explained who it was and how in a riddle without actually saying anything, leaving it for interpretation. Also, due to free will, this could have been something that never came to pass, or could possibly have been decades or centuries in the future.

Luna, however, is an Oracle. Rather than see those points in time in the future, Luna is capable of seeing the future based on decisions a person makes and how that affects the time-stream and can examine by going forward and pausing almost as if watching a video or pensieve memory.

HOWEVER, her powers are limited by the severity of the decision(s), the complexity (say, a duel or Quidditch instead of what someone will wear due to the constantly changing factors) and how far out she looks. She also cannot see everything. She can see important things that are, for lack of a better way of saying it, "pushed" towards her and things she looks for, specifically, by following someone's path in Destiny and Time. Also, she cannot see down her own path, just like a Seer. It's a method of balance to keep them from becoming ultimately powerful. Also, this power cannot be turned off at will, so she can see a person's future or things they've done in their past, or things they WANT to do (such as kill, rape, torture, etc) and it can quite often be painful, especially when her Empath power causes her to feel some of those horrible things, as was the case with Hermione if she didn't let Sirius die that night.

These two powers combined, however, also grant her a form of reasoning power to know what a person is planning or desires.


	6. The Rise of a War Wizard

Story: The Rise of a War Wizard

Chapter: Compiled Five Chapters

Ships: Harry/Hermione/(eventual Luna), Neville/Susan, Ginny/Hannah

Tags: Concept crossover with Naruto, Lunar Harmony, First story, Slightly rushed

Status: Incomplete/Undefined Hiatus (Rewrite necessary due to being poorly done to start with)

Warnings: None

Challenge: Witowsmp ("Dumbledore Answers Harry")

xXxXxXx

To get to each segment of the story, search for "Chapter1", "Chapter2", etc, "Chapter5".

**Forewarned**, this was my first attempt at Harry Potter, never posted, and riddled with clichés amongst what I still think are moderately decent ideas. If you like something, feel free to pilfer and use.

**Temporarily abandoned** due to getting other ideas and realizing this particular one, while I still want to continue it, will be combined with some of my challenges (possibly) and rewritten at the very least, unless I want the whole thing to be a VERY fast-paced story (which I may very well do, but it will still get rewritten.)

Little detail will be given since I still have the thoughts of taking this somewhere. Basic information is coming first and foremost, so you know what I was thinking with it.

SEARCH TERMS: (CTRL + "F" and each term for quick reference.)

-**ABILITIES** (Explanation on different abilities used in the story)-

-**PLOT POINTS** (Monetary systems, Technology, Snape, etc – Not a plot line)-

-**SHIPS **(Primary and Secondary)**-**

**-MONETARY CONVERSION** -

-**SPELLS** (Self-created, borrowed and their meanings. This is more so I remember than anything.)-

-**SUMMARY** (Full)-

-**TERMS**-

**xXxXxXx**

**Summary: **

Created based on the challenge by "Witowsmp". This challenge was issued from the story "Dumbledore Answers Harry" at the end of chapter one. Here are the terms of his challenge in their entirety and verbatim:

**"Here's a challenge for anyone interested. Write an original fanfic based off of the first scene of this story where Harry persuades Dumbledore to answer his questions and give him full disclosure at the end of the first book. You can pair Harry with any nonSlytherin female of your choice. Just let me know if you post the story. I think I'd enjoy reading someone else's idea of what would've happened if Dumbledore stopped keeping his secrets from Harry."**

Dumbledore answers Harry's question towards the end of the first year when Harry asks why Voldemort was after him. Before telling Harry about his prophecy, Harry must learn occlumency. While training for his destiny, the powers of a War Wizard begin to manifest themselves, bringing about a frightening force the likes of which are only now used in wizarding action stories or sappy romance novels. (Hey, it sells...)

These abilities have one true manifestation, but that makes every change available in the story, for the most part. For a better understanding, search for the term "War Wizard".

**xXxXxXx**

**Terms:**

"**Tulpa"-** A Tulpa is a thought that has obtained physical manifestation in the world. An example could be thus: The Crumple Horned Snorkack. Luna believes they truly exist and knows the full history of them (or at least one full history, perhaps not the true history if they exist in the real world.) Because of this, if she believed strongly enough, and perhaps others as well, their belief and thoughts about it could manifest themselves to truly create such a creature. This is also what is believed to be the case with the sasquatch, yeti, Loch Ness Monster, etc.

**"War Wizard**- The concept of a 'war wizard' is one where a normal wizard finds his or her key to heightened abilities and strengths, or the key to removing one's natural blocks from full power (a body's natural limitations on itself to keep it from wearing out – such as the thought that we only use so much of our brains and any more could, potentially, be harmful rather than helpful.) A war wizard, based on precious little documented, and proven, information and concepts that remain the same throughout story and legend, says that there are never more than one war wizard alive at any given time and that they have all been different. All legends, stories and documented information suggests that a war wizard will gain at least one special ability or trait based on why they ascended to a higher state, but will be something in which will make the war wizard truly fearsome in battle.

The only thing that most scholars tend to agree on is the original strength of the witch or wizard and their original talents are likely to influence the outcome of their abilities, along with the reason that they become a war wizard. It is mutually agreed upon that one's reason for ascending to the war wizard status, that it also plays a significant role in strengths and abilities. Adaptation included.

It has been debated amongst many as to exactly what requirements must be met before one can become a war wizard. It has been debated that one must be incredibly powerful to begin with since there have been many that have suffered horrible fates and have not advanced to the status of 'war wizard'. Some believe that it is a state of stabilized dementia in which the natural limitations of the mind are broken, causing an imbalance of power and structure, which would eventually lead to their death, as few have lived very long from the time of their 'Awakening', though that is suspected to be because they would continually fight against odds that were far too much, even for the state of a war wizard. This is believed because they have all come about during a time of great strife and fought for one side or another, risking their lives for whatever their goal was.

Though another theory suggests it could possibly be something far different, because it has been known that non-magical individuals can also ascend to this higher state of being. Mothers have been known to lift great amounts of weight to uncover a buried child or move with unnatural swiftness to move to protect someone. But all of this evidence is either hidden or destroyed.

Known reasons for a witch or wizard to gain the status of 'war wizard' have been the desire to avenge a slain loved one, protection of a loved one, some have even gone to the state of war wizard simply to protect a large group of people against devastating odds, though that usually ended up with the decimation of the enemy by self-sacrifice. There have been documents stating some have been for selfish reasons as well. Some had desired power and managed to gain the status of war wizard, or at least something with a very strong semblance. It is strongly believed, however, that this was done with dark ritual sacrifices to increase one's power. It is also known that one wizard, approximately one thousand B.C., was so infuriated because he was constantly teased and had begun to obtain followers where he ruled with an iron fist just for the sake of killing, proving it is not only those who protect others who ascend. Evidence of that matter leads to suggest that the mind itself had been the source of his power, allowing him to somehow connect and influence his minions from anywhere.

Little else is truly known about a war wizard. They are simply too rare and do not tend to live long enough to study.

'_A Warrior's Code: Victory and Success'_ - This is a book that Filius Flitwick lived his dueling days by. Its primary focus is the difference between truly winning a battle or duel over simply defeating your opponent. In other words, there is no point in winning if you sacrifice too much; an empty victory. The book's entire curriculum is wrapped around honor, but explains when there should be a distinction between doing what in necessary in the fight to win versus losing. An example would be thus: Outnumbered by several people who are attempting to kill yourself and/or others and simply knocking your opponent out is too risky, so you should take them out as thoroughly as you are willing to live with later. Their deaths, or your friends'? (Note: This title came from another story whose title is unknown, but the book idea stuck with me.)

xXxXxXx

**Ships:**

Primary:

Harry/Hermione/Luna (H/Hr/L)

Secondary:

Neville/Susan (N/Sus)

Ginny/Hannah (G/Han)

xXxXxXx

**MONETARY CONVERSION:**

1 knut (Bronze) = 1 pound

1 sickle (Silver) = 20 knuts = 20 pounds

1 galleon (Gold) = 25 sickles = 500 knuts = 500 pounds

I wanted an easy conversion factor (even though most authors, myself included until I read someone's rant about it on their profile, use a conversion rate of 1 galleon for every 5 muggle pounds,) so I made it as stated above. If you want a more scientific approach, look up "Harry Potter and the Quantum Leap" by Seel'vor. A very good read (and the description is on ch-1.) Or, just realize a single ounce of gold is generally worth $1,000.00 USD the last time I looked, so a gold coin worth five pounds is just ludicrous.

xXxXxXx

**Spells:**

**Spell:** 'Paro Salus ad -name-'

**Translation:** Set Security to -name-

**Use:** Used to set security wards around personal objects, such as trunks and jewelry boxes and the like.

xXxXxXx

**Abilities:**

There will possibly be concepts and ideas taken from the following source(s):

**Naruto - anime:**

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and the Rasengan. -

These will be in the story, though it will be "Shadow Clone" and Rasengan, most likely. The Shadow Clone will effect the same as in the anime (learning and such, though the clones will 'shimmer' into existence; no poof cloud or anything) and the Rasengan will be the same, but have an extra thing I will add in regards to what it can/will do, I believe.

The Celestial Gates (Hachimon)- 

I will alter it a bit so that it works for my story, but I will pull it off in a few ways. My plan is a simple one. Take the concept and alter it a bit to allow it to be used by wizards, rather than men who have trained their bodies for an energy boost to help with different abilities (Rather than Lee, think Kyuubi-fied Naruto using different tails' of power.) This will be due to extensive amounts of magic coursing through the magic circulatory system.

Using chakra to enhance physical strength, stamina, speed, senses, etc. Only, it will be magic rather than chakra.

Weights (aided by magic in this case, so as not to get bulky) to train with and wear constantly so that they can be deactivated via a single word so that immediate responses can be made to whatever situation arises as needed.

**Full Metal Alchemist - anime:**

Primarily the concept of seals. Where, in the anime, seals are needed to do anything, Edward, not is brother Alphonse, is able to do them without seals (except for the most complex, of course.) How I plan to use this is when Harry uses War wizard abilities, seals will sometimes form to help with the more complex issues. These will be rare, unless Harry wants to make one visible while doing wandless magic, just for visual affect and to intimidate, discourage or awe those watching, just to keep people on their toes and worried about what he could do, so they don't feel the need to attack himself or his friends. They'd be created by making a form of raw magic, or mana at that point, to form the symbol(s) in the air to intimidate or frighten his opponent, or just to confuse.

**The Sword of Truth / The Wheel of Time- book:**

Gateways - Portals opening in the air to a place where one has been before, though it could be adapted slightly based on use (ie, open near a person and such.)

Wizard Fire - Equivalent of Napalm and Greek Fire, but purely a magical force, nothing chemical.

xXxXxXx

**Plot points:**

Based upon challenge of "Dumbledore Answers Harry" by Witowsmp in which Dumbledore answered Harry's question in the hospital wing about Voldemort

The story will be mostly based on canon until fourth year (though I intend several things to differentiate from Canon before then, such as who gets the diary in second year, for example). That is when the concept of a "War Wizard" truly takes affect. Fifth year and beyond will have minor plot similarities with canon, but mainly characters (such as Umbridge) and the Department of Mysteries fiasco. Though it isn't a likely event, I have something particular I want to happen and that will be where things truly stray from canon almost totally. I am contemplating changing the three tasks as well, if I can come up with suitable ideas.

Begins at end of first year and the first four to five chapters will be setting the stage for the story to truly begin. Those chapters will be used to get information to the reader so they understand where everything is coming from and it can be recognized that he doesn't grow overly quickly (Failed in actual application – I made the story too fast with too much growth, too quickly.) They are used to get through the summer and start the year. Regardless of the way the first three chapters progress, Harry mainly only learns occlumency and gets a very rudimentary start on his extra abilities that he gets from starting with the Naruto manga

**Snape** is fundamentally evil, but totally against Voldemort and against Harry when he can be. He would rather put Harry under the Cruciatus rather than help him, but will do so since Harry, for the most part, is helping him in the long run and he needs Harry.

**Dumbledore** is a misguided man who has been blinded by age and his own public persona. While still good, he just doesn't think to take other people's considerations into account when planning and generally not thinking about much other than 'the greater good' scenario or fixing his own mistakes where he thinks he can. Oblivious to Harry not truly having a childhood after beginning Hogwarts even though he tries to give him the opportunities to have one, he seems to not realize that too many things keep happening and he is forced to take action to keep the school safe from one thing or another. He is obsessed with Harry's protection where he can keep an eye on him.

Technology will be current, as I don't feel like checking dates for movies, music and technologies that were out to remain with the original timeline of real life. Being a fanfiction, I claim the ability to make the Universe it resides in as I see fit.

Weights, distances, etc; these will all be expressed in the Standard measuring systems over the Metric. This is done because I'm an American, and didn't commit Metric to memory as well as I wish I had (Standard system.. pfft. Really, the United States and one other country are the only ones in the world to use it.. You'd think it wouldn't be considered 'standard' at that point.) I'm the author, I get to rant. ^,^

**Title:** The Rise of a War Wizard

**Chapter1** – Explanations Given

**Ship:** H/Hr/L, Nev/Susan B, G/Han

**Key: **"Speech"**, **_'Thoughts'_,** "Speech laden with magic"**, §Parsletongue§

**Rating:** T

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[A/N]-Created based on the challenge by "Witowsmp". This challenge was issued from the story "Dumbledore Answers Harry" at the end of chapter one.

The concept intrigued me. (Insert cheesy grin here.) - However, due to the request to base this off of the opening scene to the aforementioned story, the first chapters will be nearly identical. Merely phrased in my own words, except for what can only be described as the original creator had written (some things are just too perfect to improve on or alter in a satisfying manner.) I admit this now so that I don't feel bad for going for something so similar. No plagiarism is intended. I just wanted to make the conversation between Harry and Dumbledore close to the same, though I think I succeeded in changing it enough (and probably much worse than the original...) If all goes well, I can change it totally, though I doubt it would be as good or better.

I am basing Harry's decision to push the subject of getting an answer by altering the actual events while he was alone with Voldemort. There will be a flashback later and references for explanations. I am doing this so that I can alter the first chapter as much as possible because, to be quite honest, Witowsmp actually did a perfect job in my opinion. I really wouldn't have done anything to improve his chapter since it covered pretty much everything. I also plan on having current technology as I don't care enough about movie and song release dates if I ever bring them up. This also holds true for stores, prices (conversion of one galleon to five muggle pounds for simplicity) and the like. There was another thing, but I can't think of it. If I get flamed for it, I'm sure I'll remember. (Insert another cheesy grin here.)

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter or any of it's affiliates or characters and such. By reading this chapter and those following it, you agree that this one disclaimer, found at the beginning of my story works for all sequential chapters following it for the continuity of the story.

xXxXxXx

Harry Potter awoke from his rest, flashes of the previous night speeding through his mind. The disturbing visage of the dark lord Voldemort stuck on the back of Quirrell's head would be something that would make Harry queasy for some time. He was still a little nauseated knowing that a man who had been teaching him for nine months had been possessed by the man who killed his parents when he was only one year old.

Shaking his head to clear it, Harry recognized he was in the hospital wing in Hogwarts, even fuzzy, he couldn't mistake the blurry room. Harry reached to the table beside his bed for where his glasses were always placed and put them on, bringing his world into focus, along with an old man walking up to the side of his bed. Harry could tell immediately that his headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, was saddened by the earlier events.

"Harry, my boy, how are you feeling?"

"Alright, Sir. How long have I been out? Are Hermione and Ron okay?"

"Only a few hours and yes, both are in excellent condition." Dumbledore motioned towards a rather large pile of get-well cards and sweets. "It had been decided that last night's event should be kept quiet, so _naturally_, everyone knows." Harry had to give a quick snort of laughter when he realized Dumbledore's face looked truly surprised at the concept. "Mr. Weasley seems to have alleviated you of the trouble of opening your chocolate frogs, it seems, along with the frogs themselves." Harry noticed that every single box of the sweets were opened and in a pile at the end of his bed.

"I'm glad they're okay." Harry leaned his head back and frowned, not caring about Ron's eating habits. The boy had been taking his candy for a long time now and generally helped himself to whatever was in Harry's trunk, so it was nothing new. "Sir, why was Voldemort after me? He said some things that I didn't quite understand." Harry watched as the man sagged slightly, showing his true age.

"Harry, you will know in time, I am afraid. You should enjoy your childhood and we can deal with these matters when we must. Please, put it out of your mind and rest assured that I will tell you when you are ready." Dumbledore watched as Harry's frown deepened and his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Sir, Voldemort chose to come to this school and has, apparently, been keeping tabs on me since school started. He said some very... odd... things while we were down there and I feel I need to know them. How can I enjoy anything when I know that there's some mad man out there to get me? If there is something that will eventually come, I should try to be ready for it. I can't risk my future just to enjoy a childhood that I already hate, save for my time here." Dumbledore sighed and looked at Harry. He knew children had a habit of exaggerating the things they've gone through, but the child had a point. He really should be allowed to ready himself for the future. But why he thought he had something to be ready for is what was bothering the headmaster.

"Harry, what exactly was said between you and Voldemort?" Dumbledore asked quietly.

Harry gave a heavy sigh before he replied. "Basically, he said how he hated me for surviving ten years ago and that he would be coming back and there was nothing I could do about it. He also said that it was destined that we would fight again and that I would beg for my death before he gave it and then a few things about my family and how pathetic they were. Apparently, when he killed my parents, he wasn't after them. He was after me, and I want to know why." Harry left out a few things, but didn't feel he had to give that information out quite yet. Dumbledore could tell he was holding back, but decided he would tell him when he was ready.

"I see. I will tell you what I can, Harry. But I can not tell you everything."

"Why not?" Harry had interrupted him, not happy about things being withheld from him.

"Because, Harry. There are abilities where some things we wish to be kept secret, can't be kept as such. One of these is called 'Legilimency'. It is the ability to read a person's memories and surface thoughts. If I tell you everything, some of which we certainly don't want to get into the wrong hands, and you haven't learned to keep it to yourself, it would be disastrous. Do you understand?" Dumbledore watched as Harry's face flickered through a few emotions.

"You said if I hadn't learned to protect myself from it. Would I be correct in thinking I can learn how to do that?"

Dumbledore hadn't expected this. But he could certainly use this to his advantage and keep Harry happy at the same time.

"You can. It would take incredible fortitude and work to do so. Few people have managed to learn occlumency, the method to block Legilimency, at such a young age, but you could certainly try. It is a very difficult art to master and highly time-consuming." Dumbledore paused only a moment to let those words sink into Harry's mind, hopefully dissuading him from trying to learn it as of yet. "If you can learn occlumency, then I will tell you everything, but for now, you would have to settle for only what I can tell you. Do you agree?" Dumbledore really didn't want to tell him more than he had to. He hoped that Harry would be dissuaded from attempting to learn occlumency, at least for now. Unfortunately for him, Harry looked too pleased by the comment. It was quite obvious he planned to do what was needed to learn it. Dumbledore was very grateful that occlumency took time and fortitude of the mind to handle. The latter of which would be somewhat difficult for an eleven-year old. They could, and did, learn the memory organizing parts since it helped tremendously with memory enhancement and noticing things around you, but it was unheard of for a child to have a strong enough mind to actually build any form of defense.

Harry just didn't need to know that.

"Yea, I can do that. I am sure I can get a few options and ideas from Hermione. How would I learn it? Can I get a book in Diagon Alley about it? Or maybe borrow one from the library for the summer?" Harry was beginning to get excited and was firing questions off faster and faster, making Dumbledore chuckle.

"Harry, I will lend you a book on the subject. You needn't worry about that." Dumbledore watched as Harry stopped mid-rant and looked at him with a blank expression which quickly turned to happiness.

"Wonderful! So what can you tell me for now?"

Dumbledore conjured a plush chair and sat with his fingers steepled. He was trying to decide how much to tell him. Harry waited, only slightly impatiently.

"Harry, I will tell you what I can now, but please tell none of this to anyone. Even Miss Granger and Mister Weasley. At least until they are able to protect the information as well." He waited for Harry to nod and then began," Ten years ago, the war was waging as strongly as it had at any point before. If fact, it was nearly as bad as it had been during the reign of Grindelwald. It could have easily surpassed it had it been allowed to continue. There were very few who could truly upset the balance and Voldemort was one of them. Things were horrible. Your parents were amongst the very few who could keep the light from being completely obliterated. At one point, there was some information that found its way to Voldemort that told him of a method in which he could be defeated. Eventually, he came for you because the information he obtained were the first couple of lines of a prophesy that spoke of you, and only you, having the power to defeat Voldemort." Dumbledore watched as Harry's face betrayed his shock.

"M-me?"

"Indeed. The contents of the prophesy and the fact that it even exists are what I can not tell you about right now. That, and a few other small bits of information associated with it. But once you master your occlumency, I will tell you. For now, I shall continue." He waited until he got a shaky nod from Harry before actually doing so.

"Anyway, that prophesy is why he came to your home that night. He was coming to try and kill you. But he failed. His killing curse rebounded off of you and killed himself instead. A little while later, Hagrid found you and brought you to me. I took you to your relatives' house so that you would remain safe from Voldemort's followers that were still running about." Dumbledore watched as Harry's face took on an introspective look and waited to see what he would have to say. After about a minute, he turned back to Dumbledore.

"Sir, if Hagrid had to find me, then what happened to the others that were at the house?"

Dumbledore sighed heavily and looked away before answering.

"There was no one but your parents and yourself at the residence. No one had known what happened until Hagrid came over for tea that he and your parents were expecting that night."

"Then how do you know what happened that night? If they were the only ones, how can you know he shot the killing curse at me? And why did you put me with the Dursleys? They hate anything magical."

"Though it isn't looked highly upon, the information was necessary, so I performed legilimency on you as a baby. I watched what had happened and alerted those who needed to know. Based on what appeared to have happened, I drew the best conclusions I could. And the Dursleys are the only blood family you have left. By leaving you with them, I was able to set up some very powerful magical defenses on the house that were based upon your mother's sacrifice in protecting you. These protections are what kept you safe at the Dursleys as you grew up. It is also that very same magic that protected you tonight against Voldemort." Dumbledore was still looking away from Harry and had, therefore, missed the narrowing of his eyes. Harry didn't exactly feel safe at the Dursleys', but compared to the possible alternatives, he was okay with it for now.

"Alright, so I got all that, then. Is there anything else I can know right now?" Dumbledore simply shook his head lightly.

"I'm afraid not, Harry. Anything else is a bit too much, I am afraid."

"I see." In actuality, he didn't, but there wasn't anything else he could think of. The two sat there for a few moments, before Dumbledore decided there wasn't anything more to say.

"Well, Harry. I feel it is time that you got some more rest. I will give you that book on occlumency, as well as a few others I feel you may be able to use, tomorrow and we will see where we can go from there. Agreed?"

Harry smiled brilliantly at his headmaster and gave an emphatic nod in the affirmative. "Agreed!"

Dumbledore got up and patted Harry's shoulder tenderly before turning and exiting the room. Once gone, Harry laid back and sighed contentedly. Dumbledore wouldn't tell him what he wanted to know, yet, but he agreed to tell him when he could protect the information. That was more than an even and fair trade. He could see how it was necessary to protect that information. He would just have to try his hardest to learn occlumency. He could tell that Dumbledore had hoped he wouldn't want to learn occlumency after telling him it would be difficult, but that only made him feel he needed to learn it even more. Even if not for this reason, then he could still protect his other memories from others if they could perform legilimency. Harry was almost looking forward to the end of the year in a week so that he could truly begin to work on his occlumency. In high spirits, regardless of the fact that he would be with the Dursleys, Harry put his glasses back on the table and went back to bed.

xXxXxXx

Harry had been awoken quite early by Madam Pomfrey and found his way down to the Great Hall after showering and dressing into the robes that had been laid out for him. There were only a few students around their tables, still with jerky movements in their half-asleep states. He sat in his usual spot at the table and loaded his plate with several foods and then began to eat slowly, thinking about what he could try and do over the summer. From what Voldemort had said, and what he learned from Dumbledore the previous night, he knew he would end up having to fight Voldemort. It was obvious that he didn't have a lot that he could do if he was in a spirit form. He couldn't exactly call the an exorcist for this type of thing.

By going over what had happened with Quirrell, he could tell that just destroying the body wouldn't have been enough to finish things. That had just released the spirit... thing... that he was and then it went through him and hurt horribly. That would mean he would have to find some way to kill him as a spirit. Unless he figured out some way to bring his own body back. Harry frowned as he considered that possibility, thinking about how morbid it was. And spooky. After a few short minutes, Harry realized that, sadly, he wouldn't be able to do anything until Voldemort did, which meant he didn't have anything in particular to try and plan.

Harry was considering what he would have to do to protect himself if any of Voldemort's followers decided to come for him when he heard a happy squeal and was almost immediately engulfed in a hug. He immediately stiffened. "Er, good morning to you too, Hermione." A few seconds later, Hermione squeezed him one last time and then sat next to him.

"Are you feeling better? What happened after you left me at the potions? Are we going to be in trouble? What happened to the stone? Are you g-" Hermione was interrupted by Harry's laughing.

"Calm down, Hermione. I'm feeling perfect, we aren't in trouble and I can answer the rest when we aren't in the Great Hall." A slightly embarrassed smile later, and both were eating with Harry back in introspective mode and Hermione reading a book that he hadn't caught the name to. In their time sitting there, several other students and a few teachers had found their ways down to begin eating. Most, however, wouldn't be there for a bit more time since it was Saturday. Harry had been coming up with different things he could try and do over the summer to help himself when he heard himself getting addressed from behind.

"Ah, Harry. It seems Madam Pomfrey has found you fit to leave early."

Harry turned and smiled at the Headmaster. "Hello Professor."

"I've brought you what I promised. Please, be sure to study it extensively and follow the suggestions each chapter has. There are also several notations I've put in the margins you should read as you come to them. As for the other books I mentioned, I shall endeavor to send them via owl for you when I have found the ones I would like you to have." Dumbledore handed Harry a very dark brown book that had no writing on the outside on it's leather cover. Even the spine held no markings. It simply looked much like a very high-priced journal.

"I don't mind if you read past chapter one, Harry, but please practice only the first chapter until later. I will let you know when you may begin the rest. Without a firm foundation, you cannot build strong walls, after all." Not knowing about occlumency yet, Harry didn't realize that he'd just received his first lesson.

"Thank you, Professor. I'll read and practice it as much as possible. I promise I will get it right, even if I am very young for it."

Dumbledore smiled at the boy, idly noticing Hermione's hungry look as she had her eyes glued to the book, her head moving from side to side as she followed its movements while Harry gestured with it. He chuckled to himself as he watched Harry pocket it to read later.

"I'm sure you'll make me proud. I left you a note with a few suggestions in it as well. Now, I think I will go and eat my breakfast. I have quite the craving for some scrambled eggs and tomatoes." He turned and walked up to his chair, leaving a happy Harry to the torment of a determined Hermione.

_'Perhaps I shouldn't have given that to him with her right there, but this will be so much more fun to watch!'_ He snickered to himself as he imagined her tenacity in finding out what was held within the book. He expected that Harry would allow her to read it anyway, since he mentioned getting her help, but this would be so much better than letting him go to her in his own time. He was an old man! It was his right, nay, his _duty_ to be amused at the antics of the young.

And to meddle in their friendships for his own amusement like this. Like playing matchmaker without the possibility of pregnancy.

Hermione quickly turned back to her breakfast as Harry turned back to his own. She didn't notice Dumbledore sit in his seat and quickly throw his hands out to gather lots of food and begin to watch the two of them. She kept moving her eyes from her own food to Harry and back again, over and over. That book that the headmaster had given to Harry had absolutely no markings and she was very curious about what kind of juicy knowledge nuggets it held within it. Harry's comments certainly didn't help sate her curiosity at all. It was maybe three or four minutes after Harry had gone back into introspective mode that she couldn't stand it anymore.

"Harry, what was that book that Professor Dumbledore gave you? Can I see it?" She watched as Harry turned to her with a surprised expression and then he smiled at her.

"Not yet, but after we finish breakfast. I planned on showing you anyway. I think you'll like it." He turned back to his breakfast again, taking one more bite and then thinking again.

"Well? Are you going to tell me what its about?" Hermione huffed as Harry turned to her and smiled again.

"Nope! At least, not yet. I'll explain everything in a few minutes, when we're done eating." Hermione watched as he turned back to his food but started thinking again. After watching him for about a minute, she scowled and put her fork down hard enough to get his attention.

"Done! Are you ready?" She smiled impishly at him as he looked at his own plate, which had been half-eaten.

"Yea, I suppose so. I'll just eat a big lunch if I get hungry between now and then." They both got up and they walked side-by-side outside where they could make sure there were few people around that could hear them.

"Alright, Harry, what's in the book? Can I see it?" Hermione was still setting her things down, just like Harry, as she began her inquisition. Harry just laughed while he sat down and then pulled out the book. He opened it for the letter that Dumbledore left in it and then handed the book to Hermione to read through. She eyed the letter, but then decided to look through the book as quickly as possible. It was obvious he would be keeping it over the summer, and she wanted to get as much out of it as she could before he snatched it back. Once she saw the title on the first page, her eyes widened. She had read a little about the topic of occlumency, and wondering why Harry had to learn it began to make her far more curious than she already was, and for so many different reasons.

"Harry! This book teaches occlumency! That isn't even something that is taught at Hogwarts! It's even a restricted art! Why on earth would Dumbledore want you to learn this?"

Harry looked up from his letter with a grimace as he looked at Hermione's shocked face. "Er, I can't exactly tell you right now. I can if you want to learn this though?" She could tell that was more of a question than a statement, as if he would actually have to ask.

"Of course I'll learn it! You can't even find a book in the library about this! The Ministry of Magic restricts this being taught! Can I borrow it tonight to read through? I will give it back to you tomorrow, I promise!" Harry briefly wondered if she realized she was making a pouting face.

"No problem. I just wanted to read through chapter one for now and get a few ideas with you about it. I know you understand these things a lot better than I do." He finished with a rather sheepish smile and ran his hand through his unkempt hair.

"Of course! We can discuss the theory and exercises!" She practically hopped up and down in her seat in her enthusiasm. She immediately went back to the first chapter and let Harry get back to his letter:

_Harry_

_Within this book are the exercises and processes needed to learn occlumency. For at least one week, you should work only on the first chapter, which discusses clearing the mind before you go to bed. This process has a few different methods discussed and you may want to find which works best for you. Once you find one that you feel works well enough, I would only then go to chapter number two. Beyond that, you should be able to decide on your own speed. This process will help you become more attuned to your magic core. That also helps learning spells faster and allow use of more power in those spells._

_When you are able to withstand my mental attacks well enough, I will show you what I promised._

_Please study in earnest,_

_Dumbledore_

Harry immediately folded the parchment and put it on an inside pocket of his robes and stuck it there with a temporary sticking charm. He didn't want to allow it a chance to fall out.

"So, how does it look?" Harry watched as Hermione looked up at him and smiled brilliantly.

"Oh, Harry! It's wonderful! From what I can tell, you have to clear your mind, and when you get done with that to where you can do it well, you build defenses so that whoever is trying to access your memories and thoughts only hits a wall. This book discusses several different ways to build defenses and how to get to each point where things have to be done. The book is very concise and explains things very clearly, so we shouldn't have any problems with it."

"That's good," Harry sighed in relief as he spoke, "I was hoping it wouldn't be overly difficult since I would be working on it mostly on my own for a while. I've got a lot I will need to work on this summer, I think."

Hermione was able to realize that if the headmaster was looking to have Harry learn occlumency, then whatever Harry either knew, or was going to know, had to be kept secret, and she was more than willing to wait to see what it was. He said he would tell her when she learned it.

"When will you be able to tell me what we are learning this for?" She watched as Harry frowned slightly and began thinking.

"I'm not exactly sure. Dumbledore has some things to tell me, but he won't until I've mastered this to a point where he is at least happy with it. He said it generally takes a long time, but that I shouldn't have much trouble." He shrugged at this point. "Maybe he will teach me legilimency also and I can test your defenses later, or he can. But probably around when I learn it, I am sure you will have learned it also. You also do so well, that I doubt you will have trouble with this also." Hermione blushed a little at the compliment.

"Er, I don't know about that. This is usually something that only adults learn and we aren't adults. There's probably a reason they don't teach it here considering it is such a valuable skill. Children probably aren't able to learn it easily." She watched as he shook his head.

"I don't know about that, actually. If it was that difficult, I don't think he would have told me that he would tell me about the- er..." Harry looked around nervously, trying not to look at Hermione's expectant face. "Well, Dumbledore's got something to tell me, and I don't think he would have told me he would tell me after learning this if he thought it would take a long time." Sadly, Harry hadn't realized that was exactly what he had done in hopes of giving Harry time to live what he could of his childhood.

"I suppose." Hermione hadn't sounded as confident. "Well, since I'm going to borrow this for tonight, let's read the first chapter and you can start on clearing your mind tonight while I read the rest of it tonight to give back to you tomorrow. Is that okay?"

"Of course." They sat next to each other and Hermione began to read out loud.

_Occlumency is the mental defense of one's mind against outside penetration. The most common cause for defense is 'legilimency', which is the art of reading a person's surface thoughts or memories, but there are some dark creatures, spells and potions that it helps to protect against as well. As such, we will discuss the defense against legilimency in this chapter, and others in future chapters. So we will first discuss what, exactly, legilimency is, so that you understand what is actually done to defend against it._

_Legilimency is the projection of one's will, or mental force, into another's mind to listen to a person as they think, or to view a person's memories. You can tell when you are being attacked by a legilimens (one who is practicing legilimency) by several different methods. The first, and most common, is to recognize a sort of probing sensation in your mind. There is no real physical sensation, but you will notice it feels much like it. Another method can be used primarily when you are expecting such an attack. You would want to concentrate on a single memory and once you experience others popping up, seemingly, out of nowhere, you can expect that you are the victim of a legilimens attack. Lastly, when you learn to become a master occlumens, you can set traps within your own mind to ensnare those who would attack your mind._

_One should remember that, to perform legilimency, eye contact must always be made. Usually, it must be direct eye contact, or both parties looking into each others' eyes. However, when the legilimens becomes experienced enough, they will find that they only need a visual of the eye itself, regardless of where the target is actually looking. Eye contact is needed as they have a direct and physical connection to the mind._

_With occlumency, there are several methods to protect yourself. The most common, and easiest, is to simply organize your mind and place a sort of 'wall' around your important memories and then just maintaining that wall. This is where the beginning of your occlumency training begins._

_To organize your mind, you must clear your mind each night before you go to sleep. Allow yourself at least a half hour, one hour preferably, in the beginning and sit and relax while thinking of as little as possible. Doing this will allow you to perform the following chapters with much less difficulty. It is highly recommended that you follow this chapter for several weeks before continuing._

The book went on to discuss the different methods of clearing one's mind and organizing their thoughts. It was nearly an hour later that they had gone through the different methods and discussed the theory behind each when they decided they were done with the book. Hermione wanted to go back to the common room and finish reading as much of it as she could so she wouldn't miss much over the summer from it and Harry wanted to go to the library and look though some other books on spirits and ghosts. He wanted to find what he could on what Voldemort may have been. He was just passing the Great Hall when he met up with Ron coming out of the doors.

"Hey Harry! Where've you been?"

"Er, I was just on my way to the library, why?"

"Let's go and play some wizard's chess. School is almost over and we just got over fighting the bad guys! Don't worry about school work! You're turning into Hermione!" Harry really wanted to check in the library for some books on spirits and such, but he decided he could meet up with him later. The comment about Hermione, however, he decided to say something about.

"Ron, Hermione's knowledge is what allowed us to _survive_ this whole thing. If it weren't for her, we'd have died in that Devil's Snare, assuming we would have even made it that far. I just don't want to have to always rely on whatever random knowledge she has. If I don't learn things myself, what would I do when she wasn't around?" He shrugged as if to say he didn't really know. "But as it is, I have a few things I need to check in the library, but I can meet up with you in a couple of hours unless I find something faster than that, alright?" Harry noticed that he didn't seem overly thrilled about not playing chess right away, but seemed placated by the fact that he would play later.

"Alright. But what are you going to the library for?" They both started walking towards the library while Harry answered.

"Eh, I want to find out some information on what Voldemort," he ignored Ron's shudder, "may have been so that I can see if there may be a way to stop him easier if he comes back." From there, he explained what had happened after Ron was knocked unconscious, though he left out quite a bit about the actual conversation with Voldemort. He also left out everything about the occlumency since he knew that Ron wouldn't want to read the book and wouldn't care to practice over the summer, and then he would feel bad that he couldn't tell Ron what was going on. He could always teach him occlumency when next year started.

"Wow Mate, that's weird," Ron stated after hearing it all.

"Yea, tell me about it."

"Well, while you were out, I owled Mum about stuff and asked if you could stay with us this for part of the summer! She said yes! You can come over whenever you want!" Both boys smiled.

"That'd be great! But how would I get there?"

"We can get you. Dad's got a car and he can pick you up. I know you aren't fond of your family, so I figured we could pick you up whenever." Ron shrugged, showing he hadn't thought that far into it.

"Alright. I'll have to find out when I can show up, then." Harry remembered Dumbledore talking about wards around Privet Drive, so he would have to talk with him about it, but felt this was going to be a good summer.

xXxXxXx

"You alrigh' there, 'Arry?" Harry stopped, several feet from the entrance to the Hogwarts Express and turned towards the booming voice of Hagrid behind him.

"Hello, Hagrid! Yea, everything's fine, just gotta go back to the Dursleys'." Harry noticed Hagrid was looking a little skittish.

"Yeh, I'm sorry to hear 'bout that." Hagrid stroked his beard a few times and then handed Harry a thick book. "I got this fer ya. I gathered up all the pictures I could fin'. I hope you like it."

Harry opened the book to find that it was a photo album. Inside, it was filled with wizarding pictures of different people. The first page had a single picture in the middle of the page. It was a man and woman, laughing and waving towards the camera, while occasionally, the man would twirl her around in a circle and then smirk at the camera, showing his happiness as he pulled her closer. Then it happened all over again. From the comments about his own appearance, he could tell immediately who the two were, and then Hagrid confirmed it.

"They were yer parents, 'Arry." He spoke softly, for him anyway, which meant it was still a deep rumble.

Harry ran his fingers reverently over the side of the picture and smiled sadly. "Thank you, Hagrid. This is the best thing anyone has ever given me." He looked up at Hagrid and smiled widely at him, getting the large man to chuckle and put a big hand over Harry's shoulder.

"I di'n't think those muggles you live with would have given you any pictures of 'em. Now you can look at this any time you need ta. I'm jus' sorry I couldn't give you more."

Harry hugged his friend and then pulled back with another grin. "You've done plenty, Hagrid. You've given me my parents." As he finished, the whistle blew signifying the train would leave in only a few moments.

"Well, you best be gettin' on the train."

"Goodbye, Hagrid!"

"G'bye, Harry!"

xXxXxXx

"Harry, Ron, you promise you'll write this summer, right?" Hermione was putting her book away and pulling out a small piece of parchment from her bag while she spoke as they were entering Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Both Ron and Harry laughed and assured her that they would.

Ron grabbed his things and began to walk towards the exit with Harry following behind him. He was pulled back by Hermione, however, while Ron continued, blissfully unaware.

"Hm? What is it, Hermione?" Harry noticed the slightly nervous expression on her face as she held out the bit of parchment that she had pulled out earlier.

"I was just hoping you could call me some time this summer. It would allow us to talk about the book a little and we can discuss our homework and things. Owl is wonderful and all, but it takes time and you can only ask questions and give your points of view. It isn't really the best for discussing theory like we'll be wanting to do with occlumency." Hermione hadn't realized she was speaking a little louder than normal, nor did she notice that she was speaking a little quicker than normal either. She was worried that Harry and Ron would forget her over the summer. She was well aware that they would remember her, but she hadn't really had any friends since before that last Halloween, and she hoped that they wouldn't realize how much more fun they can have without studying and remember all the times she made them study. It may have been a baseless fear, but it stemmed from a lifetime of a lack of friends.

"Yea, sure, Hermione. I'm not sure how often the Dursleys will let me call you, but I'm sure I can work something out." Harry smiled at her, having not noticed her louder voice and thinking her quickened speech was simply her enthusiasm to discuss the book rather than worry that he would decide he didn't want to be her friend during the summer.

Hermione smiled brilliantly at him and they continued their way onto the station to pick up their trunks. They ran into Ron, who was waiting by the door for them, and then picked up their trunks.

"Oi, it took you two long enough! C'mon!" Ron led them through the magical barrier that separated them from King's Cross. Once through, each of them their way to those who had come to meet them.

"Goodbye, guys!"

"Bye, Ron. Bye, Hermione."

"Goodbye, Ron. Goodbye, Harry!"

They separated a few feet out from the magical barrier and Ron was accosted by a plump woman with red hair just like his own that seemed to enjoy crushing the life out of him and his brothers. Hermione went to two adults who appeared to be her parents, as one looked to be an older and taller version of herself, though Hermione's chin and nose looked more like the man's. Harry smiled slightly as he saw everyone go to their families, then he heard Vernon over the others.

"Let's go, Boy! We've got to get home, already!" Harry looked towards the sound of his voice and saw his uncle Vernon standing in between Petunia and Dudley. Dudley appeared to have gained a little weight, along with Vernon, while Petunia was as thin as she had ever been. None of them looked happy to be there.

Harry was half way to the Dursleys when he heard Ron's voice again. "See you, Harry!" Harry turned and gave a short wave before turning back towards the Dursleys, who looked angered that they were forced to see one of Harry's friends acknowledge his existence. They simply tried to ignore it. On the trip back to Privet Drive, Harry couldn't help but be glad that he would be allowed to go to Ron's home at some point in the summer.

**Title**: The Rise of a War Wizard

**Chapter2** – Summer and Dobby (1/2)

**Ships**: Harry/Hermione/Luna, Nev/Sus B, Ginny/Hannah

**Key: **"Speech"**, **_'Thoughts'_,** "Speech laden with magic"**, §Parsletongue§

**Rating:** T

xXxXxXx

Harry had been back at Number Four Privet Drive for nine days. Never before had he had such a good time there. Harry had been picked up at King's Cross by the Dursleys and had a rather tense drive back to Privet Drive. It wasn't until they had been driving for a few minutes that he realized each of the Dursleys seemed to jerk or twitch when he would shift in his seat or move his hands when they saw it. And it was at that point, that he realized they didn't realize he couldn't perform magic outside of Hogwarts.

At that point, Harry had decided to explain a little of his 'summer homework' that he'd just thought up. He explained that he was supposed to try and turn something living into some form of plant life and then 'attempt' to turn it back. He'd made sure to subtly stress the word 'attempt' each time he used it. After he was done, Vernon's purple neck and face still made him a little jumpy out of habit, so he'd promised to do it only at night and where no one could see so that none of the neighbors could think anything. Vernon had declared he'd better keep his freakish dealings out of the sight of normal people and then listed his duties.

Since then, his job was to cook the meals, since they said he had to cook his own meals anyway; all outside and lawn work was done by Harry since he said he wanted to keep in shape and aside from that, he merely cleaned whatever dishes were used in preparing the meals. It was still a bit of work, but it was far more manageable than what he was used to.

Harry had decided almost immediately after the whole confrontation that he would have to take a more Hermione-esque approach to his school work. He couldn't go through everything without truly learning what he needed as he went along. He had also decided that the classes he took would reflect what he knew was to come. Because of these things, he settled in to do his homework as thoroughly as possible. He did the ones he knew he would dislike doing the most so they were out of the way, allowing him to finish his potions and herbology essays by the end of the first day. They were assigned as two feet each, but he had finished them with just over four feet. He followed that same process with the rest of his homework, being finished with it all by the end of the third day.

He woke up very early each day and went jogging to the park, running for a bit and then same basic calisthenics such as push-ups and sit-ups. He'd have done more if he could have remembered any others that they had been shown in primary school. From there, he went back, took a shower, made breakfast to have it ready when everyone woke up and then did his occlumency training until lunch. After everyone ate and he cleaned up the dishes, he did whatever he felt up to until dinner. He'd do the same as during lunch and then occlumency before bed. He'd occasionally do the occlumency training after lunch instead of before, alternating each day.

It was still on the ninth day, while jogging back to Number Four Privet Drive when he noticed that a house two down from old Mrs. Figg was having a yard sale. There were two adults and a child setting everything up while it was still early so they could get as much business as possible while he was running by, so he decided it would be something fun to look through. He was curious to see what people, other than the Dursleys, favored.

Looking up to the sky, he realized he could make an early breakfast and then come back with some of the muggle money he stored in his trunk. He'd sent Hedwig to Gringotts after being told about everything that had happened in the past and learning about what was to come. Or at least what he had learned about what was to come. He sent out a request to have one thousand galleons changed into muggle pounds, thinking that a galleon was the same as a single pound. He knew he had easily that many of the gold coins in his vault. When he got back five hundred thousand pounds, he was, needless to say, shocked. He was very careful in putting it into the very bottom of his trunk along with the one thousand galleons they sent him along with it so he could take almost all of it back as soon as possible. He wanted to make sure he would have enough to survive on for whatever came up if he had to leave Number Four quickly, but not enough to have the Dursleys kill him and keep the loot. He just hadn't expected so much. Now he understood why everything in Diagon Alley seemed to cost so little. It also made him rather curious about what was truly in his vault and how much he actually had.

Harry quickly made it back and showered. Then he made a quick breakfast of eggs, hash browns, sausage and bacon, enough of each to feed a small army, which may have left Dudley and Vernon hungry when it was gone. Harry simply piled a little of each between four pieces of bread for two sandwiches and made his way up to get his money. He put a little into his back pocket and then went down to serve the food onto the table and then clean up.

Harry made his way back to the yard sale at a rather sedate pace, enjoying the morning and the neighborhood rising to begin the day. Five minutes of walking brought him back to the house he was looking for. The people had filled most of the tables and had a few things in boxes in front of them. Everything they had was organized by what the item was. They had clothes all in one spot, with toys next to that, books and magazines, movies, electronics, household items, clothes and then random things like jewelry and wall hangings and such. They were still placing things in the boxes and on the tables when he approached, though they appeared to be almost finished.

Harry walked up to the yard and boy he saw helping them greeted him as he approached. "Hello! We're having a yard sale, so if you want anything, just let us know and we'll tell you what our price is."

Harry nodded and smiled at the boy. "Alright, thanks." The woman was walking out of the garage and noticed Harry. When she realized who he was, she frowned. The stories she'd heard from her neighbors that his relatives had said about him flashed through her mind as she recognized the scar on his forehead and she began to worry he'd attempt to steal something. She decided to keep him within sight and began to reorganize the placements of the items on the tables, ignoring the fact that it had already been done.

Harry remembered how Ron had told him how his father was nearly fanatical about muggle devices. He'd look to see if there was anything worth getting for him. He certainly had enough money to get something from a store if he needed to.

He'd made it through everything at the miscellaneous spot and totally skipped the clothes and household items. He had no need for any of those things, even if the clothes probably did fit better, they would still be horribly large on him. He'd noticed some pretty jewelry, but Hermione was really the only girl he knew and he didn't think she'd like any of it. He'd made it past everything until he got to the books without finding anything of interest. Once he got there, however, he noticed several things that caught his attention. He mentally joked to himself that trying to imagine himself as thinking as Hermione for the past week to think over what he would need to learn over the summer had further reaching effects than he thought it would.

He'd noticed a few older books that were considered classical muggle literature by William Shakespeare and a book of poetry by Edgar Allan Poe. He wasn't really sure why, but he'd decided that Professor McGonagall may enjoy them. He picked them up and began to look through the rest, not noticing the woman who was watching him narrow her eyes as if expecting him to start running any moment. From there, he looked a little further over and noticed a bunch of magazine-looking things that had a blonde-haired boy on the front. Curious, he set down the other books and picked up the one on top and opened it.

The first couple of pages showed a little boy who was getting in trouble for painting a large monument that was chiseled into the face of the mountain or cliff. Harry couldn't really tell what it was.

"Ah, that's a manga called 'Naruto'. I really liked it, but I have copies of it all on my computer, so I don't really need those any more." The boy had brought the last box from the garage and had noticed Harry looking at the magazine in his hand.

"Can you tell me what it's about?" Harry set the magazine down as the boy began talking.

"Yea. It's about this boy named 'Uzumaki Naruto'. He was an orphan and grew up all alone and the villagers of his home almost all hated him. A few didn't, but they were very few. The day he was born, a demon fox with nine tails attacked and almost everyone who fought it was killed. The leader of the village, he was called the 'Yondaime', defeated it by sealing it away in the newborn baby, Naruto. From there, he always had a very hard time to get anything he did right. Eventually, he went into the ninja academy and learned how to use chakra, which is like," here, the boy paused while thinking of how to describe it, "life energy or magic or something." At the word magic, Harry raised an eyebrow and began to pay even more attention.

"There was a test that he failed a few times to become a ninja and the last time he failed it because he couldn't do the clone technique, which makes images of you that look real to confuse your enemy. He couldn't do it because he had too much power, so he always failed it. One of the teachers tricked him into stealing a scroll that was filled with a bunch of illegal and dangerous techniques and Naruto actually did it. He got away and learned the first technique on it, the Shadow Clone jutsu." Noticing Harry's puzzled expression, he clarified, "Jutsu means technique in Japanese."

"Ah." Harry felt a little less stupid knowing it was a different language. "So, what then?" He was beginning to see similarities in his own life and that of the character in the magazine. He was also wondering if he would say anything about those techniques.

"Well, the Shadow Clone jutsu is a technique to make a bunch of real clones of yourself, which are capable of fighting and using their own techniques and such. Also, from what I understand from some of the later manga, whatever a clone learns, the original learns also after the clone disappears. So he could learn techniques faster that way and fight a bunch of people himself. That was his signature move, along with something called the 'Rasengan', which was like a spiraling ball of energy. Think of it like a small glass sphere that was eggshell thin and a bunch of chakra or that energy stuff spinning in a whole bunch of different ways. It was an incredibly powerful attack that only the Yondaime, Naruto and one other person, who taught the Yondaime, could do."

The boy went on to explain how Naruto became a ninja and how ninja could use their chakra, channeled into different parts of their bodies to make themselves faster and stronger. He also explained how the ninja could channel their chakra to their eyes, ears and nose to increase their senses. After a few questions from Harry, he went on to explain more of the techniques used in the manga and decided that, to find out more, he would buy all of the manga. The boy was only too happy to oblige, and said that, since he was getting it all, he could have it for two hundred pounds, which Harry could tell from the prices on each one that it was considerably less than he had paid to get it all.

Harry grabbed all of the Naruto manga, the books on poetry and the Shakespeare book, along with one he found that Hermione may have enjoyed that was rather thick, but a bunch of poetry as well. When the woman told him the total would come to two hundred and fifty pounds, he pulled out the five hundred he had brought and this time, he noticed the look she had.

"Is something wrong, Ma'am?" The woman's eyes flickered to his face and she tried to put on an indifferent expression.

"No, no. I'm just surprised the Dursleys would give you such a large allowance. That's all." Harry frowned at that.

"Actually, the Dursleys don't give me an allowance. My parents were murdered when I was one and they left me with a rather large inheritance. Since I started the boarding school in Scotland, I've had access to it. Aside from my school things, I don't really spend it on anything else. I'm just buying these things because I found them interesting, and I think one of my teachers would enjoy the poetry, while my headmaster may enjoy the Shakespeare." Harry was worried that word would get back to the Dursleys that he had some money if this woman decided to mention that he may have stolen from them to pay for the things her purchased. If she did that, then they would probably search his trunk and find the rest of it. He'd rather have not told her that much, but it was better than what she might do.

Sarah was, to say the least, surprised. The boy was very polite and didn't show any of the malice that she'd heard he normally did. His story was plausible, but it didn't make a lot of sense. "I'm sorry. It's just that there are a lot of rumors going around that, well," she smiled sheepishly at him at this point.

"That say I'm a delinquent and evil?" Harry chuckled at his own joke while the woman adopted a rather guilty expression. It was a little odd to think an eleven or twelve-year old could actually be evil.

Of course, she didn't know Draco, I'm-so-evil-my-butt-hairs-fear-me, Malfoy. _'Definitely keeping that one,'_ Harry thought to himself.

"Well, yes, actually. When we moved here last summer, we were told to watch out for you. The Dursleys had come to us and talked with us, mainly getting to know each other. You were one of the topics that came up, I'm sorry."

"I know. My aunt, Petunia, hated my mother and everything associated with her. But as she's the only blood relation left, I was stuck with her and she with me. There are reasons I'm still stuck there, but I only have to stay for a little while. I'll be here for a few weeks and then I can go back to my school and you won't have to worry that I'll come and get you in the middle of the night." Harry chuckled as a thought struck him. "I've given up my life as the boogey man." The woman laughed as she took his money. He was gathering his things together when the man that had been helping them to set up earlier came over with a sack for Harry to use.

"Ah, here you go! You bought quite a bit and you could probably use this!" The man was quite happy. They hadn't even officially started yet, and they had already made over two hundred pounds. Hello new dishwasher!

"Thanks, I didn't even think about that." Harry didn't realize he'd just bought a rather large stack of magazines and three thick books and that he'd have to carry them back. This made things so much easier. He was more happy that none of the Dursleys would be home for another couple of hours. Vernon should have left for work and Petunia should have taken Dudley shopping since he'd complained about his clothes shrinking in the wash again.

"No worries. If you want anything else, feel free to tell us." The man gave a jaunty salute and turned to go inside the house while the woman apologized again for her initial treatment.

"Don't worry about it, really. I'm going to take these and put them away, so I'll see you later, and thanks!" Harry smiled at the boy and his mother and went off to Number Four with his new items. Once he arrived, he stashed the books in his trunk and began to read through the Naruto manga. He had quite a few to go through. He hadn't even counted them out, but he had a stack that was as tall as four of his hand lengths from wrist to the tip of his middle finger, and each one was quite thin. He set his alarm so he could be ready to make lunch and began to read through them.

xXxXxXx

It was about three hours later when Harry's alarm clock had gone off. Harry had made it through about three quarters of the Naruto manga and saw many similarities between the use of chakra and magic. The differences, really, were cosmetic. Where Harry and other wizards used wands to focus their energy, magic to them; the ninja used hand seals, or shapes with their hands to focus their energy, chakra to the ninjas. And the idea of channeling magic throughout the body to strengthen it and speed it up were very interesting ideas as well. At least they were to a boy who was still young enough to think wearing tights and proclaiming himself to be a superhero would be a good idea.

Harry began to make lunch while thinking about what he knew of the nature of magic. There were a lot of ideas in that comic that he'd really wanted to try and was quite curious to see if any of them could be done in the wizarding world with magic. He thought back on some of his first lessons with Professors Flitwick and McGonagall where they had said that all things were related, in some way, to magic. They said that a wand was needed to focus their magic, much like the ninja need their seals, and that magic could be performed without a wand, as Dumbledore had shown on several occasions and accidental magic showed the proof in that as well, but that it required so much power and concentration that few people could do it. Though it did raise the question on how a child could do it accidentally when adults couldn't when trying.

Thinking along those lines, Harry remembered being told that if they used magic at all this summer, they could be expelled, but he'd remembered using magic in the past, on several occasions, and never getting anything from the Ministry of Magic about it. That thought made Harry stop and consider how many different times he could think of anything that may have been magic-related and he realized he could think of several. He'd made the glass panel disappear at the zoo just before leaving for Hogwarts on Dudley's birthday, he'd been running from Dudley and some of his gang and simply disappeared from where he was and appeared somewhere else, he'd grown his hair over night when Petunia had shaved almost all of it except for what was needed to cover his scar, he idly noted he hadn't needed a haircut since, and he remembered a few occasions where he would get hurt badly and be as good as new the next day. To say nothing of the countless times Dudley had tripped him or caused him to break things and they would be fixed the next time he looked.

Harry finished making lunch and decided he'd write a letter to Dumbledore while he was in his room. After that, he'd finish the comics he'd bought and then work on his occlumency until he got a reply.

Thinking about a reply from Dumbledore made Harry realize that he hadn't received any mail from Hermione or Ron since school let out. Harry knew that Ron wasn't the type to write a letter, but he'd expected something from Hermione from the way she'd spoken about it. He realized she may have had some trouble writing without her own owl, but then realized Hedwig wouldn't have had any qualms about bringing a reply back. Frowning, he decided to call Hermione while everyone was still out and write to Dumbledore afterwards. He just wouldn't mention his theory about the Ministry and using magic until after his conversation with Dumbledore. Harry ran to his trunk and got the parchment that had her name on it. While running out of the room, he looked at the clock and realized he had about forty minutes until Petunia and Dudley were expected to be back.

Harry went to the phone and dialed the number on the parchment and then put it in his pocket. He didn't want to leave it laying around where someone else may find it. After three rings, a familiar voice picked up.

"Hello, Granger residence."

"Hello, Hermione. Its Harry." He had to pull the phone away from his ear as she made an un-Hermione-like squeal into the phone.

"Harry! Hi! Why haven't you written?" Harry frowned at that, wondering what she meant.

"What do you mean? I've written you twice and sent them with Hedwig. Didn't you get them?"

"No, I didn't! She showed up at my house twice though, and I sent my letters with her. I just assumed you wanted to reply to whatever I would send. Didn't you get them?" Hermione sounded as confused as Harry was.

"Er, no. I didn't. She's never had problems delivering my letters before. Maybe that would explain why I didn't get anything from Ron either."

"I'm not sure. I suppose it's possible. I wonder why neither of us have received anything, though." Harry suddenly had a thought. He decided he'd have to ask Dumbledore about it though.

"I have an idea, but I will have to ask Dumbledore about it. It didn't stop my Hogwarts acceptance letter, so I don't know."

"Oh, what is it?"

"Eh, that's one of those things I'll have to tell you later. And before I forget, if I simply hang up, that's probably because my aunt Petunia and Dudley got back. They went shopping and I'm not supposed to use the phone without permission, but I was curious about why I hadn't received any letters from you and realized this would be an easy way to find out."

"Well, that's for sure. Alright, I won't call back if you hang up. So how is your occlumency going?" Harry chuckled at her as she spoke.

"It's going alright, I suppose. I'm doing a little more than what the book says to do, but I don't think it would cause any problems."

"Is Dumbledore going to test you at all this summer or has he sent you anything for those books he mentioned when you were at the table?" Hermione was hoping to get more jewels like the occlumency book. It was just something much better than what could be found in the library, and the library would still be there later. Hermione's questions, however, made Harry realize that Hermione could help with any questions he had in regards to what to ask Dumbledore and, if he sent the letter and didn't receive a reply, then he may have to ask her to do it for him.

"No, actually, but I've actually got a lot of things I want to ask him about. He said we weren't allowed to use magic during the summer, but I remembered using it a few times before even going to school, and I had never been in trouble for it before. At least not with the Ministry. I've also got some questions about other things, but I need to think a little of it through before I can talk with him about it so I know what I want to actually learn about it."

Hermione scrunched her eyebrows together in thought. "I actually remember doing magic before school too. I didn't know what it was, but I remember doing it. I never got in trouble either. Will you let me know what he says?"

"Of course. I'll probably talk about the whole thing with you just to see what you think about whatever it is. It'd be a good thing to know about."

"Thanks!" Harry chuckled at her chipper attitude. "So what is your summer like so far?" Harry didn't even have to think before answering.

"It's been one of the best I've ever had. I think they're afraid that I'll use magic on them and have been treating me pretty well. I'm exercising in the morning while the sun comes up, then doing a few light chores outside, then I do occlumency training, lunch, whatever I feel like doing until dinner, after dinner, I do occlumency and then bed. I've already finished my homework, nearly doubling the required length on all of them and that's about it. Other than that, I've been reading through my first year books again."

"You've already finished all of your homework?" Harry noticed that she seemed rather surprised.

"Yea. It probably isn't as in-depth as yours, but I think it has all of the needed information in them. It's mostly probably rambling."

"That's wonderful, Harry! I've finished mine also!"

"That's great! So, how's your occlumency coming along?"

"Well, I'm just doing it before bed, since that's what the book suggested, but I think doing it a little more would be better also." Harry could imagine her with a sheepish expression at learning he was doing more training with it than she was.

"Well, you already have a more organized mind, so you probably wouldn't need it quite as badly as I do since that's one of the biggest reasons of getting this step down. And besides, the book_ did_ say to do it just before you went to bed since it calms you down, but I think it also helps me think more clearly through the day, that's why I do it more often. Well, that and I think I'll get it faster while in truth, I may be doing worse because of it." He shrugged, not really realizing that she couldn't see it. "I'll have to ask Dumbledore about that, too, I suppose. Better safe than sorry."

"Alright. But I think I'll adopt a similar schedule as you on training it. I really don't expect that it can hurt anything." There was a brief pause before she spoke again. "So, erm, I don't suppose you've read past chapter one?" She was completely fishing for more information.

"I've read it, yes. Chapter two discusses the process of actually organizing your mind and memories. The more adept you are at clearing your mind, the easier doing that should be. It mentioned going into your own mind, or something like that, and ordering your memories." Harry frowned, thinking over the chapter again.

"I wonder when I'll be able to do that. Probably not before school starts again, I suppose." Her disappointment was almost a physical thing through the phone. "I read later chapters, but it said not to do them until the first chapter was accomplished properly."

"Maybe, but I could always see if Dumbledore may be willing to allow me to tell you what he tells me about it and then you could try it if it isn't dangerous or anything or if it is just reading past chapter one, then I can send you a copy of the chapter or the book if I can figure out what is going on with Hedwig and the mail."

"Oh! That would be wonderful, Harry! Thank you!"

Harry chuckled silently. "No worries. I just hope he gets the letter since it doesn't appear anyone else has."

"Oh. Yea. I forgot about that." Harry barely contained his laughter when he heard Hermione's voice come through the phone flat and emotionless.

"Well, I'm still cooking lunch, and Petunia and Dudley should be back in a few minutes, so I am going to let you go now, while I can say goodbye, and make sure lunch doesn't burn. But before I go, I'm going to owl Dumbledore about the use of magic thing, your occlumency training, the lack of owl post to and from me to you and Ron and my other questions that I mentioned earlier if I can think of any way to phrase them properly. Anything you want me to ask about?"

"Nothing you haven't already mentioned. Anything else I would have would be after you learn about those things."

"Alright then. I'll either call you again soon, or I will owl you after I find out what is wrong with it, alright?"

"Alright. Goodbye, Harry. It was great to hear your voice again."

"The same with you, Hermione. Goodbye for now."

"Goodbye." Then they both hung up.

Harry went into the kitchen and finished the lunch, then ran up to his room to begin composing his letter to Dumbledore. When he sat down at the desk, he heard a pop behind him and turned quickly to see a rather goofy looking creature standing on his bed. It was very short, perhaps three feet tall, gray-green skin, big floppy ears, large green eyes that were round and reminded him a little of a frog, and he had bandages wrapped around both hands and wore a dirty and ragged pillowcase.

Harry gave a surprised yelp and fell back in his chair. The tiny creature gave his own surprised squeak and began to look around frantically.

"Who are you!" Harry pulled himself back onto his chair and stared wide-eyed at the jittery creature on his bed.

"Oh! Dobby is sorry, Harry Potter, sir! But Harry Potter mustn't go to Hogwarts this year! Terrible things is planned for this year!" Dobby squeaked and ran over to the wall and then commenced banging his head on it. Harry immediately went over to the creature and, hesitating only a moment, grabbed him by the shoulders and stopped him from hurting himself.

"Please don't do that!" Harry noticed that the little thing was crying now. "What do you mean there is danger this year at Hogwarts? What terrible things are planned?" Dobby was nervously squeaking again and looking anywhere but at Harry.

"Dobby is sorry, Harry Potter, sir, but Dobby is not being allowed to say!" He was about to start banging his head on the wall again, but Harry stopped that as soon as he started. "Dobby must punish himself! Dobby must punish himself when Dobby isn't being able to do what is he is being told to do!" He again tried to bang his head against the wall.

"No! Dobby, please don't hurt yourself for not being able to answer my questions, okay? Is there anything that you _can _tell me?" Harry wasn't sure what to think of the little thing in front of him. But after dealing with Voldemort in ghost form less than a month ago, he was a little worried about something coming again.

"Dobby can only tell Harry Potter that there is great danger coming to Hogwarts this year. Harry Potter mustn't go!" The little creature put it's hands together in a begging motion, pleading in his posture for Harry to listen to reason.

"I'm sorry, but I can't not go. If there is going to be something dangerous at school this year, then I need to go so I can help protect my friends. I'm sorry." Dobby began to fidget nervously and eying the wall longingly.

"Dobby is sorry, Harry Potter, sir. Dobby had hoped that if Harry Potter's friends forgot about him, he may decide not to go to Hogwarts this year." Harry narrowed his eyes at the little creature in front of him.

"Dobby, what did you do? Are you the reason that my mail hasn't been getting to me or my friends?" Dobby squeaked again and ran over to the bedside table to take the lamp off and began hitting himself over the head with it.

"Dobby was bad! Dobby didn't want to do it, but Dobby didn't want Harry Potter to be in danger!"

"Dobby! Stop that!" Harry grabbed the lamp from the little gray creature and held him by the shoulders.

"Dobby is sorry, Harry Potter, sir. Dobby just wanted to keep you safe from the bad things." Harry sighed as the little thing in front of him became rather lethargic.

"That's alright, Dobby. But can you please stop keeping my mail from me and my friends?"

"Yes, Harry Potter. Dobby can be doing that. Dobby did not know that Harry Potter could contact his Grangy on a muggle toy, so that makes it not needed anymore."

"Alright, good. So, let me get this straight now. There is something bad going to happen at Hogwarts this year but you can't tell me what it is or who is going to do it or anything else about it?" Dobby nodded enthusiastically.

"That is right, Harry Potter, sir. Dobby's masters will not allow him to say anything about it. They did not say I couldn't say something bad was going to happen, though, so Dobby is doing that!"

"Your masters? You have a master?"

"Yes, Dobby is a house elf. All house elves must have a master or they is losing their magic and they die. But Dobby isn't being able to tell you who Dobby's master is." Harry frowned only a moment, seeing as how Dobby started to eye the lamp longingly again.

"That's okay, Dobby. You let me know to be on guard, and that is better than anything. I'll let Headmaster Dumbledore know that something is going to happen, but not tell him anything about you, just to make sure you stay safe. Is that okay?" Harry really didn't want him to start beating himself again or start to cry again.

"Thank you, Harry Potter, sir." Dobby snapped his fingers and was gone, leaving behind a thoughtful Harry and Harry's missed mail in the place Dobby was at.

"Well, that was ... weird. But at least that answered one question. Brought up tons of others, but answered one." Harry shook his head to clear it and pulled out a parchment and quill.

_Headmaster,_

_I've got quite a few questions and something to let you know. I'll do the more important one now, since it just happened._

_I promised not to say who gave me this information, so I will not tell you that, but I was visited by a house elf. This house elf repeatedly abused himself whenever he couldn't answer my questions and spoke about a master, so I'm assuming they make him do that. But he told me that he was trying to keep me from Hogwarts by restricting my mail. I've confirmed that Hermione hasn't been getting my letters to her and I haven't been getting hers. This was done by the house elf. He said he was trying to keep me from Hogwarts because something bad was going to happen. He wouldn't tell me what, or how, because his master told him not to. That was about it._

_As for the rest, I was wondering about a few things. First, you'd told everyone they would get in trouble for doing magic at home, but I remember doing magic several times before school started and I never got in trouble with the Ministry, just the Dursleys. Hermione said she'd done magic also and she never got in trouble for it. I was wondering why we would get in trouble now._

_Second, when I spoke with Hermione, she said she was following the first chapter as it was written, by practicing occlumency just before bed. I've been doing it before bed, but also, I'm doing it from breakfast to lunch, or lunch to dinner as well. I alternate each day. I was wondering if that was good or bad? I still like to do it, because I see things more clearly throughout the day and I can think more clearly and I seem to remember things easier as well. So, as long as it doesn't at least hurt, I'd probably go ahead and keep doing it. I've also read chapter two, but haven't practiced it yet, like you told me. The reason I bring this up, aside from asking about my practice schedule, is that Hermione wanted to go beyond chapter one at the same time and was wondering if she could practice it on her own if it weren't dangerous in any way._

_The house elf told me it would stop stopping my mail, so I will expect a reply within two days as a kind of test, I think._

_Harry_

Harry rolled up the parchment and called to Hedwig from her perch where she was watching him. "Here you go, girl. This goes to Headmaster Dumbledore. Can you wait for a reply?" The snowy owl nipped at his fingers with soft hooting sounds. "Thank you. It won't be much longer and then we'll be out of here and you can fly to your heart's content." Harry smiled at her as she gave a loud call and took flight out the window.

Harry laid back on his bed and thought about the comics he'd purchased earlier. He'd wished that they were longer volumes. He'd rather enjoyed them. Even as short as they were, he was a little surprised he'd made his way through them so fast. He'd been reading faster and retaining more information since he started the occlumency training. Harry just assumed it was because of his occlumency training and the short lengths of each of them. It only took him two minutes on each one except where he examined the pictures to understand what the techniques looked like, and he only had a little over a hundred and fifty of them and he only had about a dozen or so left.

Harry was trying to decide if he would want to try any of those things that they had in the comic when he went back to school when he heard the door slam shut. Apparently, Dudley just came in. He sighed and went down to clean up after they finished eating.

An hour later found Harry back in his room, finished with the Naruto manga, and halfway through the letters Dobby had left him. It was only one from Ron, saying that it was boring at the Burrow, which was what they called their home and Hermione's were about homework and the occlumency along with the every day things she had been dealing with, which was mostly about the books she was reading. After finishing each one, he decided he'd send replies back to each of them after Hedwig got back and had a chance to rest.

When the time came, he went and made dinner, then cleaned up. When he went back into his room, he found Hedwig on his bed, waiting for him to return. He quickly grabbed an owl treat and then traded it for the hostage letter.

"Thanks, girl. I won't ask you for anything again until tomorrow." A soft hoot and nip a nip on the fingertips later, Hedwig was out and searching for her own dinner, having put her treat in her food bowl. Harry laid on his bed and began to read Dumbledore's reply.

_Harry,_

_Thank you for telling me about the potential danger this year. I will do what I can do ready the school for it. I would suggest you do the same by reading and working on your homework and such. It can only help you, after all. Also, I will respect your decision to not disclose who gave you the information. House elves, by nature, are very honest and honorable creatures. I would certainly take anything one tells me into consideration and advise you to do the same should the one who came to you come back._

_As to why you could perform magic before school, you would find that any magic before you came to Hogwarts was done without a wand. Therefore, it was undetectable by the Ministry. You see, the use of a wand is needed by most witches and wizards because they cannot perform magic without it except for perhaps the most dire of circumstances. When a wand is used, it forms the raw magic coming from the caster and it forms a type of signature. That is how the Ministry knows what spells are cast. To make an example, if you cast the light spell at home, imagine that the magic would be formed into the shape of a candle. The shape is left in the air, though not exactly visible, and that alerts the Ministry to it. The Ministry has devices that detect any use of magic, but they can only detect these signatures. Wandless magic does not have this signatures because no wand is used. It is just the use of magic from the person, their intent and force of will, or how badly they try to make it happen, that makes it happen. When you learn to interact with your magic, you are able to do it. And since you are manipulating the magic directly, and not using a device which filters the magic, which in turn weakens it, you have better control and more power. As with my example, a wand for the lumos spell makes a candle, but without a wand, the magic doesn't form that shape, it simply exists as a cloud. Now these aren't exact, but simply a way for you to visualize what I am referring to._

_As for helping Miss Granger with her own occlumency training, she can do it on her own. The two of you may begin with chapter two at this point, if you so choose. Feel free to owl me with questions, and offer to do the same with Miss Granger, if you please. I have no problems with helping the two of you, but I would like you both to discuss your theories before coming to me. Not because I don't wish to help you, but so that you both have a chance to speak together and get your own ideas and possibly see new lights rather than what I was trained as._

_After getting your letter about this school year, and knowing what is to come, at least in part, I have another idea for your schooling. I think you'll find that you have an additional course this year compared to those of your peers for advanced dueling practices. I will explain more after I have it worked out. This is merely an idea I feel I would like to get started with._

_In regards to your occlumency schedule, it will never hurt to practice it more often than just before bed. It will, in time, prove to be beneficial. I am surprised, however, that you are having such notable side effects so early. Especially that it would be in regards to clarity of thought and memorization. The first is expected, but not usually for several months, and the second is rather unknown to me. It is true that those who practice occlumency will develop better memories, but that is usually after several years of practice. Even studying as often as you have been, it certainly shouldn't be happening this quickly. I do not feel there is any need to be alarmed, but you do continue to surprise me. Your schedule, therefore, may stay the same, but please do update me about any other changes such as these._

_Until we meet again,_

_Albus Dumbledore_

_Headmaster, Hogwarts: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

Harry was rather surprised. He still wasn't nearly as interested in school work as Hermione was, but the idea of dueling was really quite intriguing and called to the side of all boys that enjoy blasting things. He decided to quickly write a letter to Hermione to let her know what Dumbledore had said about the magic during the summer issue. After writing just Hermione's name, however, he decided to send the letter Dumbledore sent him to her. He'd reply to her letters in the one he started instead. After that, he went to bed.

xXxXxXx

Harry got up at his usual time and sent Hedwig out with the letter to Hermione along with one short one for Ron to go after Hermione's. From there, he took off towards the park at a faster pace than normal. He'd decided he wanted to do his usual laps as fast as possible to see what his time would be.

While Harry was running, he decided to take an idea from that comic he'd purchased and he'd see if he could get Hermione's help in designing weights that he could wear and turn off with a keyword or take off quickly in an emergency. That would help out incredibly in the coming years if for no other reason than to let him get faster in duels, which were still used as evidenced by his challenge by Draco Malfoy the year previous. They would also make him stronger, in case he had to do something which required more strength. And it was thinking about more strength, that reminded Harry of the ninja in the comic using their chakra in their bodies to make themselves faster and stronger. He decided he'd try it out as well.

On Harry's second lap, he began to think about how he could try and channel his magic like the ninja did their chakra. He thought back to the first classes again and how they described learning to use your magic in different amounts by simply focusing on what you wanted to do. Then he thought to the letter he'd gotten from Dumbledore where he said that wandless magic was intent, which Harry considered focus, force of will, which he thought meant how badly you try and make it happen and power, which he'd been told by everyone that he cared to listen to that he had plenty of.

Harry was almost done with his third lap when he decided to try and focus his magic while he ran. He didn't imagine it so much as going through him like blood, but he imagined what he actually wanted, which was to go faster.

He was halfway through his fourth lap when he began to stop focusing on his path and more on the intent of getting faster. He didn't even recognize when he went into a state of mind similar to when he meditated. On his sixth lap, Harry began to come out of it and noticed he was running at nearly double the speed he had been earlier. Trees, benches and random park things were flying by as he ran past them. He took stock of his body and realized that, though he felt the movements, his body felt very light and his strides took him a good distance. What was currently one step would have been three to four earlier. Sadly, it was when he began to pay attention to his body and the world around him that he stopped concentrating on running and he began to move at normal speed, while his body was still going full tilt in his jogging path.

"Bloody-!" Harry couldn't adapt his steps to his current speed and tripped over himself, landing himself face-first into the ground, where he rolled a few times and came to a stop after about ten feet. He took quick stock of himself, using a technique he'd started when he began making regular trips to the hospital wing. He started with his head and worked his way down, making sure nothing hurt more than it should and that it was all still there. Finding himself in decent shape, though a little sore, he rolled onto his back and watched the sky, catching his breath.

_'Well, that was certainly different,'_ he thought. _'I was certainly moving faster, and it didn't feel like I was pushing myself with wind or anything physical. I could tell that much before I decided to taste the bloody ground._' He didn't really feel he wanted to be so intimate with the ground. But it seemed the ground was more than happy to get to know him.

_'Well, at least I just proved it can be done. Now I just need to figure out how to pull it off faster and without falling flat on my face next time.'_ Harry pushed himself up, albeit a little shaky in his movements, and decided a nice walk back to the Dursleys' would be good. He popped his back and then walked slowly back to take a shower, deciding he would have to work on his stopping later. Maybe he'd try that walking on trees thing he'd seen in the manga. So far, it certainly seemed as though it would work. The first thing he tried certainly did. He was really surprised it would work that quickly, though. He'd realized he acted the same as he did when he was meditating and hoped they were related. He decided he'd ask Hermione about it and talk to Dumbledore after that. He felt more comfortable talking to her anyway. The idea of being able to do more of what the characters in the comic could do was really beginning to excite Harry. There was so much that he'd be able to do if he could do even some of those things. If he could do the tree climbing thing alone, he'd never have to worry about getting in or out of Hogwarts because of the walls.

As he was leaving the park, he remembered the girl from the comic that could channel chakra to her eyes to allow her to see everything around her, including other peoples' chakra. He decided to try that and tried the same thing he did when he was running, only to his eyes. He didn't really try to see all around him, as she had something that was unique to her family that allowed her to do that, so he concentrated on trying to see things more clearly and just simply better than he was at the beginning.

Harry walked the same path he'd been taking the past week and a half and set to making the magic in his body go to his eyes. He wasn't worried about the Ministry now that he knew he would only get in trouble if he had his wand. Harry kept looking around but, by the time he made it to Number Four Privet Drive, he'd not been able to see anything rather than the normal environment around him as usual. Along with some rather pained eyes. He was disappointed, but decided not to give up on the idea for now since he rarely got anything on his first try. That made his previous success even more abnormal. He decided to try again each day and see what he could learn, but until then, he would practice moving quicker like that and stopping each morning while running. His goal was to be able to do it without taking as long, and hopefully without as much pain in the end.

After Harry cleaned all the dishes after breakfast, he began to mow the lawn. He finished just a few minutes after an hour and began to weed the garden and all of the rest of the chores Vernon wanted to be sure he would do that day. He was still done with an hour and a half before lunch though.

It was after lunch that Hedwig returned with a reply from Hermione. Harry took the letter and gave a few moments of attention to the owl before sitting on the bed and letting her get to her rest for the day.

_Harry,_

_Thanks for sending me that letter, and replying to the ones I sent you. I wonder who Dobby's master is. Whoever it is can't be good if they're planning an attack on the school. Professor Dumbledore said that he'd be watching all of the dark object detectors in Hogwarts for anything that may come that way on the first day._

_Oh! Dumbledore came by to speak with my parents about you coming to study occlumency with me here. They said they had no problems with it so long as they could let you stay for a little while so they could learn more about some of my friends. I'm sorry about that, but they didn't have a chance to meet you at King's Cross Station and want to get to know at least one of my friends. Dumbledore said he didn't have any problems with that and is even willing to let you stay overnight so they can have plenty of time. He said to let you know he will pick you up on July 21st at nine in the morning. He should have more information for you then. After the first time, Dumbledore is going to take me to wherever you are each time for the lessons or bring you to me, whichever would be easiest on that day. _

_The information about wands and signatures is really quite interesting. That would explain why we never got in trouble. I wonder how difficult it would be to learn wandless magic. When I asked Dumbledore, he said that it took several years to get beyond more than enough to consider it anything except accidental magic. I'm not really sure about that, though. I remember that I would fix broken cups and such on purpose when I was younger, though I had to stop because it scared my parents. I think I'll look into it more when I can get to the library._

_I'm glad that your occlumency schedule isn't damaging to the process, but what kinds of side effects was he referring to? He mentioned better memory and clarity of thought. Are there other things that you're able to do or things that had changed? I've had better clarity of thought, personally, but that is only just afterwards. But then, I haven't been practicing it nearly as much as you have. But if you are memorizing things easier, that would certainly explain why you're reading your books again. I already started the same schedule you told me, at least in regards to occlumency, so I will hopefully be where you are at when you come over._

_I'll talk to you later, Harry!_

_Hermione_

Harry was thrilled that he finally had a date to leave. Even better, he could discuss the theory with Hermione and he could ask Dumbledore about the magical weights. The rest of the day had Harry going about everything he did with a bounce in his step.

From that day forward, he read each of his magical textbooks all over again during the times he wasn't doing chores or occlumency and balanced it with trying to channel his magic to run faster and get stronger as well as trying to see through his eyes with magic. By the time the twenty-first rolled around, Harry was able to run and stop almost perfectly, though it still took him a lot of concentration to get it started. He'd had only one instance where he could see through his eyes with magic, and he was only able to catch that because he'd had his wand on the table while he was trying it in his room and saw it glowing a soft amber color. It had only lasted an instant, since he lost concentration in his excitement, but now he knew, without a doubt, that it was possible.

When Dumbledore arrived at Number Four Privet Drive, he found the house empty except for the single occupant waiting for his arrival.

"Ah, hello Harry. Everything has gone well, I assume?"

"Yes, Sir. But when we get to Hermione's, remind me to ask a few questions. I want her to hear them also and I'm sure she would like to hear what you have to say. It's about some of the things I've learned this summer," Harry spoke as he picked up his trunk and advised Hedwig to fly ahead and meet him at Hermione's.

"Oh? I am most interested in hearing what you have to ask about, then. Shall we be off?" Dumbledore decided to not ask why the Dursleys were gone.

"Alright." And with that, Dumbledore grabbed him by the shoulder and they were gone in a soft pop.

**Title**: The Rise of a War Wizard

**Chapter3** – Summer and Dobby (2/2)

**Ships**: Harry/Hermione/Luna, Neville/Susan, Ginny/Hannah

**Key: **"Speech"**, **_'Thoughts'_,** "Speech laden with magic"**, §Parsletongue§

**Rating:** T

xXxXxXx

Harry felt a squeezing sensation and then felt as though sliding through a tube for only a moment. Then, the sight of what had been the Dursley home was replaced with someone's back yard. Harry noticed a neatly kept flower bed and a pool within the large back yard that was surrounded by a large privacy fence.

"What was that?" Harry was taking stock of his body, making sure everything was there as he spoke.

"That was apparition, Harry. One of the more popular methods for a witch and wizard to travel."

"It was different the last time I had done something like that." Harry was still feeling over his body and didn't notice the Headmaster cock his head to the side.

"What do you mean?" Dumbledore asked curiously. Harry looked at Dumbledore at that point.

"When I was younger, about three years ago now, Dudley and some of his friends were chasing me. I didn't want them to catch me, and I ..." Harry scrunched up his face as he thought of the best way to describe what he remembered, "teleported, I suppose, is the best way to describe it. It felt like, even though I knew I was moving, it wasn't actually me, but the world around me instead. I ended up on the roof of the school though." Dumbledore decided to laugh at Harry's comment and think more on it later.

"We'll talk more of it later, Harry. For now, I would rec-" He was cut off as a rather loud squeal sounded almost directly behind them. Harry was immediately knocked over and he fell to the ground with a grunt, spinning so that Hermione, as he'd recognized her voice, would land on top of him and not him on top of her, to break her fall.

"Er, hello, Hermione." Harry had to give her credit. She knew how to greet friends. She smiled sheepishly at him as she realized she'd knocked him down.

"Er, hello." She got off of him and held out a hand to help him up. After he'd accepted it, they brushed themselves off. Dumbledore broke the silence, his eyes twinkling merrily as he spoke.

"Ahem. As I was saying, for now, I would recommend getting inside before Miss Granger begins to wonder why we were later than I told her we'd be." Hermione blushed lightly.

"Well, I've seen him every day since I met him until this summer. I got used to being around him." Dumbledore chuckled along with a voice from behind them.

"That's our Hermione. A natural-born rugby player! Did you see that tackle, Honey?" A man was smiling mischievously at a woman next to him who was merely smiling indulgently.

"Yes, Dear. A natural." Harry did a double take as he looked upon the two newcomers. The man was average height and had the same dark brown eyes as Hermione. The shocker, however, was the woman that was standing next to him, maybe two inches shorter and a near duplicate of Hermione. Harry had seen Hermione put her hair behind her ears enough to tell that they, and the eyes and chin came from her father, but aside from that, he would have believed the woman if she said she was Hermione and had taken an aging potion. They hadn't looked so _similar_ before at King's Cross!

The man took it upon himself to introduce them. "Hello, Harry! I'm Dan, and this is Emma," he switched to a stereotypical aristocratic drawl, "we'll be your hosts for this evening and- Ow!" He stopped quickly after Emma promptly whacked him on the back of his head while Hermione hid behind her hand and shook her head.

"What my husband is _trying_ to tell you is that we are happy to have you here for the night, and that he has a poor sense of humor."

"Hey!" An indignant cry from Dan was ignored by Emma, causing Harry to chuckle while Emma continued.

"Let's bring your trunk in and get situated. And don't get that look, Hermione. He's going to be here overnight, so he's going to be forced to hear your father's jokes anyway." Harry chuckled again as he saw Hermione's father smile with a grin that made him look like he just got away with something and Hermione just looked ashamed to be seen with them.

Harry followed the Grangers as he grabbed his trunk and carried it into the kitchen through the back door, followed by Dumbledore. He took a quick look at the kitchen to see a rather large room that had soft yellow paint on the walls and lightly varnished wood cabinets with the common white appliances. It was friendly and designed for function, not sterilization like the Dursleys' kitchen. Once through, Dan had Harry set his trunk down by the entrance to the living room as they went in. They all sat down and Dumbledore began.

"Now, Harry. You mentioned you had some things you wanted to discuss while in Miss Granger's presence, so I suggest we get that out of the way before we begin the next stage of your occlumency training. Is that alright with you?" Dumbledore watched Harry for any signs of what he wanted to talk about while Hermione looked at Harry with an inquisitive expression.

"Of course. I just thought we could go over the changes in our occlumency, and some of the things I've learned to do in the past couple of weeks." That last bit certainly got their attention.

"Oh? What did you learn to do?" Harry finally got a nervous expression as he began.

"Well, just over a week after having been at the Dursleys', I was finishing my jogging and passed a home that was having a yard sale. They were selling several things and I bought a few books from them," Harry mentally smirked at Hermione's raised eyebrow, "as well as something that belonged to the boy who lived there. He called it a 'manga'. He said it was a Japanese comic book, basically. Well, inside, it talked about ninja and how they use something called 'chakra' to do things. They could enhance their senses, become temporarily stronger and faster and do techniques which could heal or attack, based on their use. It was a lot like magic, except, they didn't use wands, but a different form of concentrating their 'chakra' and they had a different background on it. Chakra, to them, was what magic is to us." He paused to make sure they were all following so far.

"I see. So what are your questions?" Dumbledore wasn't sure where Harry was going with this. Surely he could tell, even as an eleven year old, nearly twelve, that it was a fictional story. He would have to figure out how he got the money for it later.

"Well, I was reading the manga because it caught my attention, and I began to think about all of the classes I'd had since the first one with Professors McGonagall and Flitwick. I'd begun remembering how they said a wand was used to allow us to use our magic easier and that they weren't actually needed, but helped and most witches and wizards needed them because they just couldn't use magic without them. That wands were used to focus our magic along with our intent. They also said things about magic being in everything and such." Hermione was listening with rapt attention, curious about what Harry had learned to do and not wanting to interrupt in case he didn't say something she would otherwise hear. Dumbledore, however, was now even more lost.

"What you are describing are the basic fundamentals of magic, Harry." Dumbledore was surprised yet again as Harry bounced in his seat with a wide grin.

"Exactly!" Harry settled himself and continued again. "Well, I began to wonder if it would be possible to do any of those things in the comic I read. None of it certainly seemed impossible."

"Harry, that comic is simply fictional. Make-believe. I highly doubt you could do the things in that book you mentioned." Dumbledore couldn't quite read Harry's blank expression.

"But, Sir. What I'm curious about is that I learned to do one of those things already and was wondering if I could do others. You see, I was able to make myself faster when I was jogging. I went into a trance-like thing, just like when I practice occlumency, and when I started coming out of it, I was still running my rounds, but was moving so fast that, when I came out too far, I couldn't let my body keep up and actually rolled on the ground several feet. I've been working on trying to stop, but it still takes me a while to actually start it. A couple of laps around the park, anyway. I've just barely got the hang of not falling flat on my face each time, but that only works about half of the times I try it. I had been trying to go into and out of my occlumency meditation while trying to stop in between, it just isn't really working too well." Harry looked at Dumbledore, who was sporting a thoughtful look on his face and Hermione, who seemed to be thinking rapidly.

"Also, there was another thing that some of them could to increase their vision. I knew I couldn't do it exactly like in the book, or at least, not for the same reason, so I just channeled my magic to my eyes. I couldn't really do it while meditating and pay attention to what I see, so I've been trying it while doing whatever I happened to be doing. I hadn't actually managed to make it work the whole time I've tried except once, and never since then, but now I know it's possible."

"And what did you see?" Dumbledore wasn't sure what to make of this. He knew he couldn't look into Harry's mind without him knowing now. After everything he had described, he'd likely recognize the probing sensation, or at least had a good chance to. There was little choice but to get the answers the old-fashioned way. He couldn't afford to alienate Harry by betraying his trust.

"Well, not much, actually. I could only see my wand, and it was glowing a golden color. Like tree sap. Maybe a bronze color, like honey. I assumed I was seeing the magic since I couldn't see any other magical things and nothing else really glowed. I was just laying in bed when I did it." This was a shock to Dumbledore, even more so than the speed comment Harry had made earlier. Harry may have begun to learn to see magical auras, which was something that usually took several years to learn, and required a good amount of power as well.

"Quite fascinating. Harry, if I may, are there any other topics you'd like to discuss?" Dumbledore didn't know if he could take any others, but was more than willing to hear about them if they were there.

"Actually, one other thing. In the manga," Harry noticed Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at seemingly getting another idea from a fictional comic book meant to entertain, "there is a ninja who can't use chakra at all. That would be like a squib to us. But, he was still one of the strongest of those his age because he decided to train in purely hand-to-hand combat. He constantly wears weights to increase his strength, stamina and speed. I was wondering if you could either tell me where to buy some weights, or if you knew who I could talk to to make some, that I could change the weight of, without increasing their size and have some key word or something to deactivate as soon as it was said. I figure, if I can increase my speed with them on, I can deactivate them if I really need to during a duel or something. Also, it would increase my strength and I might be able to do like they do and practice channeling my magic through my body to let me move more easily with the weights on. It's just like what I do when running, but it should eventually work without much concentration."

"That's brilliant! If you could do that, and you had a single word or something you had to say in a duel, people would think it was some quick spell you used to increase in speed and such! Also, if it does work as you think it will, you may even get used to using less magic than what you do normally when you cast spells." Hermione had to admit, for something that came from a comic, it really was a good idea. "If you can't buy them, then maybe we could look at making them after we get to Hogwarts. I'm sure Professor Flitwick would be willing to tell us a good place to start and may even give us extra credit for it!" She was ecstatic by that point, hopping up and down with an infectious grin on her face.

"A very astute deduction, Miss Granger. I am afraid, however, that it is very unlikely that something of that nature currently exists in our world. Perhaps in another community within the magical world, such as in Japan, if this comic you mentioned is as popular there as it appears to be with you. I will see if Professor Flitwick could charm something with such specifications, or perhaps, would be willing to guide you as a personal project. It is, as you both mentioned, a very good idea, and in a duel, just as Miss Granger stated, a most ingenious method of appearing to surprise your opponent. Were we in school right now, that would be worth five well-earned points, but as we are not, I will see if I can find an old charms journal for you to read." Dan and Emma both got frightened looks on their faces.

"Actually, Professor, we have no objections, but would prefer she didn't begin anything additional until after the school year begins. We were hoping that she could moderate her personal extra studies this summer and have some outside fun. She's already had us get her a few new books at the beginning of this summer and hasn't gone through them quite yet." Dan loved his daughter, and certainly wanted her to learn as much as she desired, but he also didn't want her to become a recluse and live solely for books. His grandmother was quite similar and it was sheer luck that she'd met his grandfather. They'd both gone for the same book and both refused to let it go, forcing themselves to read it together until they had gotten to the point of never finishing it, saying that once they did, they'd have no reason to stay together. It didn't help matters that Hermione found that particular story quite romantic.

"Yes, I would prefer she finish what we got for her last month before she start more. As it is, we're thinking of turning the fourth bedroom into a magical study and library for her. She has quite the collection already. We'll just have to be sure to put a lock on it for when company is over." Emma trailed off a little as she began thinking of the process. They had already agreed to do it, but hadn't actually told Hermione yet since they hadn't actually figured out how they were going to do it. They didn't want an obvious lock on the door, since that would make people question what needed to be protected so much and they didn't want to be forced to lie. They already had an office for their practice and two offices was a bit much for a dentistry.

"But he's talking about giving me something that could be very beneficial to read!" Hermione wanted that book! Dumbledore laughed heartily at her apparent outrage.

"You needn't worry, Miss Granger, or Doctors Granger. I had planned to find the particular one I am mentioning and would not be able to give it to her until after the school year has started anyway. They are mostly obscure and lesser-known charms this day and age, but still useful and some fun." Dumbledore smiled inwardly as everyone seemed appeased. His thinking hadn't slowed while getting older, which he was always happy to notice.

"Now, Harry, Hermione. For your second lesson, I would like to begin by testing your defenses." He noticed Hermione look confused and guessed the reason why. "Yes, Miss Granger, I am aware they should be all but non-existent. What I am hoping for is to see if you can at least feel my attempt to read your memories and simply test what your natural defense strength may be. Some people are natural occlumens, you see, and advance very quickly after beginning their lessons where some struggle. I believe both of you to be within the first group." He allowed a moment to let them think over what he'd just told them. He hoped it would help at least one of them advance a little easier or faster.

"Very well, I will now begin. Miss Granger, would you like to go first?" At a hesitant nod, he smiled a bit to ease what discomfort he could. Discomfort made it a little harder, after all. "Very well. Both of you, take a moment to concentrate and I will begin. Miss Granger, I plan to look for your memories of what you have read this summer. Harry, I plan to see your memories of that interesting 'manga' you mentioned." They both nodded and sat more comfortably. He gave them a minute and then sent his mental probe towards Hermione.

He brushed the outside of her mind, just sensing to see if there was any resistance. He noticed a very light bit, but not much. It was more her own strength of mind. He easily passed and began to see her read a bit on ghosts and hauntings. Almost immediately, he pulled out so as not to breach her privacy.

"Very good, Miss Granger. You have a natural defense. It is slight, but stronger than average." In actuality it was about average, but he hoped to instill confidence, which seemed to have worked with her grin.

"You still got through though. I could feel you in my head. And then I saw myself reading a book."

"True, but all you have done to develop your defenses is to simply clear your mind and meditate. That doesn't really do much to defend, just make it easier. So you've done very well." He turned to Harry at this point while Hermione and her parents beamed at each other. "Now, Harry. Are you ready?" With a nod, he began.

He sent his mental probe out again and brushed Harry's mind. It was a little different than Hermione's, but that was to be expected. He could feel Harry's defenses, only a little better than Hermione's. They had immense power, but were poorly constructed. Making a mental note to find out how Harry had made walls that had such strength, but were so flimsy, he continued, applying a little pressure and broke through and found himself standing within the void of his mind where his memories lay. He brought up the one where he was reading through the manga and then switched to one where he was running and practicing his speed-running. However, the more he'd concentrated to make himself go faster, the harder it was to view the memory. Dumbledore was able to tell he was speeding up, but before he'd seen any obvious changes, the memory was yanked from him and a much younger version of Harry stood in front of him, perhaps three years old.

"Harry? What are you doing here, my boy?" Dumbledore was worried. This wasn't something normal.

"Who are you?" The voice was a combination of a young child's voice and the current Harry's. It made the hairs on the back of Dumbledore's neck stand on end.

"My name is Albus Dumbledore. Who are you?"

"I am Me." Dumbledore was a little unnerved that whoever or whatever was looking at him hadn't stopped looking at him in the eye. "Why are you here?"

"I was teaching Harry Potter, a friend of mine, occlumency. That is a defense from someone looking into your mind." He wasn't sure what was going on, but felt it would be good to be honest and treat this much as a child, a very dangerous child. "Why are you here?"

The smaller version of Harry cocked his head to the side as though in thought. "You should go now." Almost immediately after he'd finished speaking, he disappeared as thought he were sliding to the side and fading away quickly. Dumbledore had about as much time as it took to happen to think that it looked similar to how Harry described his experience in apparition before he found himself looking at Harry again in the Granger home.

_'That was... interesting,'_ Dumbledore thought. _'I wonder if he is aware of that.'_

"Harry, quite excellent. How do you feel?" Dumbledore watched him for any sign that Harry would give as to what he knew.

"It was weird. I felt you in my head, just like Hermione said she did, and I saw myself reading that comic, and then when I was practicing to run faster and then you stopped. It was definitely weird." It was obvious he hadn't realized anything about what had happened. That would require some thought, and a lot of guesswork.

"Well, I must say, you did quite well. You and Miss Granger should advance admirably. Now," Dumbledore situated himself slightly and leaned back a little, "the next state, is to organize your mind and then build your defenses. Have you both read the second chapter?"

"Harry had read it a few times and then sent me the book with Hedwig to read." Harry nodded after Hermione's comment.

"Very good. Now, there are many different ways to accomplish this stage. Once mastered, you can branch away from this lesson into so many different ways, you couldn't even begin to imagine them all. What you are going to learn today is the most rudimentary and basic form of occlumency. Simply placing barriers, or walls, around your memories. They are the easiest to maintain and build. They are also the strongest, in terms of the brute force needed to break through them. After this, you can include mazes, whatever you can imagine, traps, false information or paths; whatever you can imagine, you can use. Your mind will, quite literally, be the only limit. This is still, however, the most effective. The others require much, much more work to maintain and sustain during an attack, but do have their advantages. You will have to find those on your own, however."

"Now, what we are going to do is meditate, much the same as you had been. Only this time, when you meditate and your mind is clear, I want you to begin to distinguish your memories for what they are and try to separate them. You really only need to find your most important memories, thoughts or feelings and such, and then make sure you take them and put them together. Then, we'll begin making a wall to protect it. If you don't have anything right now that you deem as very important, I would suggest using anything you know about that may be secret. Perhaps any ways you know about to move throughout the castle unseen?" The twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes was going at full force as he spoke. Both Harry and Hermione looked at each other as he's spoken the last words, knowing that he knew.

"I always wondered if you were the one who gave me that or not." Harry smiled, shaking his head as Dumbledore smiled at having been caught. Letting him know who gave the invisibility cloak to him wouldn't hurt anything.

"We'll work with single thoughts or memories for now. You can work tonight and later to do this for the rest of your memories. This is just a quicker way to learn the methods needed."

Dumbledore continued teaching the two about building walls and how to reinforce them. They would work on simply creating viable shields around a selected memory and then add to it later on their own. He just wanted to teach them how to make the shield itself. He'd actually lost track of the time during his teaching and had spent just under two hours there rather than the one he'd planned for. It was a quarter to noon when he rose, complimenting each of them on their progress and not exaggerating that time. The two of them had done a little better than he'd expected, but realized it had come from the additional time meditating. They both spent extra time on that than normal and both spent far more time daily on it than usual when learning occlumency.

"You've both done wonderfully today, I must say. You spent more time on the initial stage of occlumency, or clearing your minds, and it certainly shows. I would say that you will have mastered this stage of your training not long after school has started if you maintain your schedules. Remember to do this each night before you go to bed, and if you continue to do so more, then that should be fine." In actuality, he really was quite pleased with both of them. They really were advancing quite quickly. He just didn't really want to tell Harry about the prophesy yet, but decided there wasn't much of a choice. He did have a right to know and was certainly holding to his side of their earlier bargain.

"I will ask around to see about those weights to see what I can find out about them, and yes, Miss Granger," he'd noticed her eyes widen as though just remembering she wanted to ask for a pair, "I will see about a pair for yourself as well. If nothing else, they would be good to have while exercising. I will look for those books and see if Professor Flitwick has anything specific he would like for you to have to read and I will get those for you as well, since I asked you to take this additional course." Dumbledore stood and bowed his head to the four of them. "I thank you for your time, Mr. and Mrs. Granger."

"Oh, it was no problem. You're teaching our Hermione something that will help her maintain her mental privacy, take as much of our time as needed." Emma truly meant what she said. She and Dan had read some of those books that Hermione had left behind about current wizarding culture and such. They got quite a bit of information about her friend Harry from them, that she said was mostly exaggerated or a blatant and outright lie. And from what she'd told them about legilimency, this occlumency bit was a good thing to learn. Apparently, more people than would admit to it know how to seemingly read minds.

"Yea! It was the best staring contest I'd ever- OW! Not again," Dan grumbled as his wife whacked him upside his head again. "They knew it was a joke," he groused. Dumbledore gave a soft laugh as he watched the byplay between the two.

"I watched a staring contest once as well. By the time I woke up, I was the only one in the room and my beard had been braided by the very children who were supposed to have been the entertainment. Due to a spell they cast, it took me a week for anyone to tell me what was so amusing." He smiled congenially and turned back to his students. "Miss Granger, Harry. I will see you a week from today during the night at eight. Good bye for now." Then he disappeared with a quiet popping sound.

Once Dumbledore had left, Harry realized he was in a strange, new place with two people in charge who he knew next to nothing about. Thankfully, Emma was on top of things.

"Well, now that that's taken care of, why don't we see about some lunch? We've got stuff for sandwiches and crisps. Harry, you take your trunk to your room, Hermione, show him where it is, and Dan and I will set everything out." Hermione hopped up and Harry followed her to his trunk and then they carried it up to his room for the night while the food was pulled out. When they got up to his room, Hermione began her inquiries.

"So, you can really run faster now? Do you have those comics you mentioned? Could I borrow them? I'd like to see what you're talking about and talk with you about it." Harry laughed, knowing this would come eventually.

"Yea, but I want to talk with you about a few things first. Basically, let you skip the mistakes I made if I can."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, like the running thing. When I first did it, I wasn't seriously hurt, but could have been if I had fallen the wrong way. I still fall on occasion when I practice it, but less often now. It still takes me a while to actually get started, but stopping is getting much easier. And I want to get your ideas on some of the things in this also."

"Alright. Maybe you can show me tomorrow. There is a park close by here as well. We can go early so no one will be there except maybe a few who run early."

"That should work. This room doesn't have an alarm, though, so you'll need to wake me up. I've been getting up pretty early already, so whenever you want to get up, let me know."

"Alright, now let's get some lunch." Hermione left the room with an amused Harry following behind.

xXxXxXx

Albus Dumbledore waited patiently for Minerva McGonagall, Filius Flitwick and Severus Snape to come to his office. He knew Harry didn't appreciate Snape's attitudes towards him or those of his house, but Dumbledore had his reasons for keeping the man safe. He'd turned spy for the light side during the last war and he had named several prominent figures of Voldemort's Inner Circle and gave details to several plans which allowed them to save many lives and capture several Death Eaters. Harry would, in time, learn to trust Dumbledore's judgement, but until then, he would simply have to be careful on how the two interacted and where.

He was contemplating the mystery of Harry Potter when he heard a knock at the door.

"Come in, come in." The three people he'd requested to see came into the room and sat in the chairs indicated. "Lemon drop?"

"You wished to speak with us, Albus?" Minerva was still detailing her lesson plans when Dumbledore had requested her presence. She was relaxing and taking her time on it this summer after learning that her defenses of the Philosopher's Stone weren't very effective last year. While she basically used the same plans for the last few dozen years, each class had to be tweaked for the right level of challenge.

"Indeed. I have several things to discuss with each of you and would like to get your thoughts on these matters." He allowed them a few moments to ask any initial questions, but they waited patiently, or as close to it as they came in Snape's case.

"After the events last year, Harry Potter requested that I explain why You-Know-Who targeted him specifically. At the time, I recognized his right to know, and offered a compromise. Should he learn occlumency, I would tell him everything he wished to know."

"But Albus, is that wise?" McGonagall would never admit out loud that she cared more for certain students, but Harry and his friends would be ones that she'd admit in her mind that she liked more than others.

"Of course it isn't. He is merely allowing the brat to get whatever he wants." Snape's oily voice interjected his own thoughts to the glares of the other two teachers and Dumbledore's raised eyebrow.

"He is doing nothing of the sort, Severus. He merely wanted to know why he was targeted by a dark wizard as a child and I offered to tell him."

"Albus, what has this to do with us, then? It seems you've already made your decision?" Filius nodded to Minerva's sentiment.

"You see, before the year ended, I gave Harry my mentor's journal on occlumency," he ignored their shocked gasps and expressions, "and he and Miss Granger have been following it. It seems as though they are advancing at an abnormal rate. They had rudimentary defenses already and I have made sure that all they have done, until earlier today, was meditate. Harry, however, has taken the meditation to a new path all together."

"What do you mean?" Filius was quite curious about this. Harry was never the first to master his charms, but he was always the best at them, often finding ways to do them and reasons for them in his essays that were quite refreshing and very interesting views on them.

"I ask that you allow me to finish before asking any questions, please." Dumbledore went on to explain the conversation with Harry in the hospital wing. He then explained what Harry had told him about owling Gringotts for emergency funds in case he would need them and his finding of the yard sale during his morning runs. Afterwards, he showed them the letters he'd saved from him and then showed them the memory of his arrival at the Grangers' and the following conversation in his pensieve, a magical device to view memories, as well as what he'd seen in Harry's mind. Then he allowed them to begin their questions. They all sat there a few minutes, thinking, before they began.

"Albus, do you believe he has truly begun to learn to move more quickly?" Not having been able to see the memory of Harry's experience while he was within Harry's mind, Dumbledore had been forced to explain that part.

"I do. I have only ever known Harry to not divulge the full truth to me. He has not once lied to me, as far as I have ever been able to tell." He ignored Snape's snort. "Again, when I was in his memory, I witnessed his speed increase. I simply do not understand what it was that I encountered when his meditative state was deep enough."

"Alright, Albus. I take it you would like for me to teach him dueling level defense as an additional class this year?" Filius asked it innocently enough, but he was secretly thrilled with the idea. He really loved his dueling days, but he was not able to maintain the profession while being a teacher, and dueling championships didn't hold the same job security as teaching. Or the same life expectancy. Everyone discussed their pupils during meetings and it was widely known that Harry also had a natural talent in the field.

"I would. I want you to teach him pretty much anything you feel he can absorb. He has unnaturally large reservoirs of magic, which would explain his difficulty of mastering spells as quickly as others as well as why he can perform them so well after learning them. I merely ask that you train him in your usual style." Albus knew why they were so large, but didn't feel it was needed for them to know.

"I have only one thing to request while teaching him. Do not discuss the odds of success or failure or how difficult or easy something should be." When he received confused looks from each of them, he felt it was safe to explain. "There is something I have been thinking about. When Harry began talking with me about his own studies and his initial classes, he began to explain how he learned to speed himself up while thinking of the nature of magic and reading about something similar in that Japanese comic he read. He knew it was fictional, but didn't see any reason it wouldn't work. It shouldn't, and yet, he has found a way to do it." Looks of comprehension replaced the confusion as he spoke.

"So, you think that he'll be able to advance more quickly, if he simply feels he can?" Minerva was shocked to say the least. She hadn't really thought much on it, but looking back on previous lessons, especially practical, she noticed that it was a very strong trend. "Merlin! I think you're right! At least where practical is concerned."

"Actually, he was usually one of the first to learn my charms when we went straight to practical and worked on theory afterwards. I would show the wand movements and say the incantation and he would usually pick it up very quickly after Miss Granger." Filius was beginning to contemplate his lessons with Harry in defense when school came back and different methods of teaching him after learning these things about him. He and McGonagall were both so excited and thinking about their previous and future lessons to notice Snape sneer at them.

"The boy has been below average in my class and I see no reason for you to get so excited." Snape's dislike for the boy was still blatantly obvious, even to the most casual observer.

"Oh, do grow up, Severus! For one, your class is potions, which is not among the same concepts we're discussing about right now and the only ones who don't complain about your teaching style are your snakes. Why you insist on holding a grudge against a man towards his son is beyond me, but they are not the same people!" Minerva had never really liked Snape. She was grateful for his part in the last war, but that was as far as it went. Snape, not having any strong defense against that, simply glowered at the woman who once taught him.

"Albus, I am curious," Flitwick began, ignoring his other two peers, "Mr. Potter's idea for weights that he can wear and disengage immediately is a very good one, but did he ever mention a particular reason for having them?"

"No, Filius. Not as far as I am aware, at least. He mentioned the advantage of having trained with them during duels and deactivating them when needed for an additional boost of endurance and such, as you saw in my pensieve. Beyond that, I am unsure of his precise reasoning. Perhaps he feels a desire to emulate that book he referenced." Dumbledore popped a lemon drop into his mouth as he finished speaking. "I have looked for something of that nature, but have been unable to find anything resembling their likeness."

"I doubt that you would. I am pretty sure I could make some, but due to the fact that they can be designed to increase in weight, I think I would rather craft them than allow Mr. Potter or Miss Granger to do so. The calculations necessary may be too great for anyone who has yet to take Arithmancy."

Dumbledore bowed his head slightly in acquiescence to his thoughts. "I believe you are correct, Filius. I don't suppose you have an idea as to how long it would take? I promised Harry I would give him an update tomorrow when I next meet him." Filius thought for a few moments about the charms needed and the math he would need to perform. After a minute or two of thinking he sighed and spoke.

"I could probably have it done in a week. I would need to know what he wanted his deactivation word to be and how he would want to increase the weight. If he is unsure, I would make them so that he could tap them with his wand, along with a password, and say how much he wanted it to weigh. The password would be to keep whoever may find out about them from changing the weight to something severe on him." At that, he looked pointedly at Minerva, as if trying to convey the image of two, red-headed twins into her mind.

"Yes, Filius, I think if the Weasley twins found out about them, then Harry would find himself in a rather embarrassing situation ... or more." She mentally cringed at the thoughts flashing through her mind. "And I really think a password to deactivate them would be very, very good. Merely spoken and without a wand tap, if you please."

"Once I get the charms thought up and created, it would be very simple to charm whatever he wants to use. Will Miss Granger and Mister Weasley be joining him in this?" Dumbledore hadn't actually asked.

"I believe Miss Granger does. She seemed rather interested in it. Mister Weasley knows nothing about any of this as of yet." He recognized Filius and Minerva's shocked expressions and even Snape had raised an eyebrow. "Harry did not ask Mister Weasley about the occlumency because he knew that Mister Weasley wouldn't practice it on his own, I believe, and he only recently came up for the idea of the weights. Mister Weasley isn't one for letters, it seems, and Harry would prefer to teach him after school begins. I am going to be taking him to the Weasley home tomorrow and he may very well begin teaching him then. I doubt, however, that he will be receptive to the idea of any additional studying while outside of school."

"What of Harry's summer work? Has he been working on that, or has he been spending all of his time on occlumency and reading comics?" Minerva was expecting that he would get it done, mostly while at Hermione's, while he could ... confirm ... his work. It was at her question that Dumbledore realized he hadn't shown his initial letter as it didn't have anything that pertained to their conversation.

"He actually wrote a minimum of four and a half feet on each of his subjects and was done within three days. It was one of the things I saw in his mind while we were practicing his occlumency. He did exceptionally well. I think even Miss Granger will be hard-pressed to match him."

"Albus, I only assigned two feet! What on earth could he have written another two and a half feet about?" Minerva was shocked to say the least. He'd never shown such a zeal for his education.

"Your assignment was transfiguring in conjunction with living creatures, yes?" At a nod, he continued, "Well, it appears that he wrote the assignment as you requested, but more in-depth. He also mentioned human transfiguration and the differences between transfiguring different materials such as metals and ceramics and something that was already a form of life, such as wood or plants. He actually made some very interesting points that I, myself, am planning on looking in to." Dumbledore watched, amusedly, as Minerva made one of the most comical faces he had ever seen. One eye, with a lowered eyebrow, was smaller than the other, which grew as the eyebrow over it raised higher.

"What on earth would make him branch into those topics?" Secretly, she was anticipating his essay now. It was unheard of for a child, especially so young, to think of such things in their work. "Usually, that isn't a topic broached until NEWT level classes! I wonder what made him think about living and non-living materials in transfiguration."

"I am unsure, Minerva. From what I could tell, and what he wrote to me, I would say he plans on taking his destiny seriously and is planning to compete with Miss Granger in her academics skills, though I highly doubt he would mention it as such to her." He chuckled at his own joke.

"You mean he plans to seriously compete with Hermione Granger in his studies," Minerva asked incredulously.

"Not so much compete, as use her diligence to inspire himself. He respects her mental acuity and has recognized the faults within himself that he should work on to make sure he can do everything that is needed to succeed."

"Then he should recognize that he has a lot of work ahead of himself." Snape's self-satisfied smirk irked the other two professors while Dumbledore simply sighed.

"Severus, I have asked you up here to get your true opinion on how we would be best to help Mr. Potter. Not to offer your biased judgement of how much you hate his father." Dumbledore sighed as Snape simply glowered his displeasure at being called on his animosity.

"Okay, Albus. On my side, you would like me to train Mr. Potter in dueling and anything he can handle. For this, I would like to focus solely on him and he can teach anyone else he chooses, though I don't mind him bringing in one or two people on occasion for testing purposes. In a year or two, he may want to begin practicing against multiple enemies anyway. Also, I am to create a form of weights for himself and Miss Granger, possibly Mr. Weasley as well; I will let you find out tomorrow as you plan to go there anyway. If we could, I would like to schedule it as a normal class for him. Have I missed anything?" Dumbledore always appreciated Filius' direct nature. He was always a pleasure to work with.

"Concise as always, Filius. I would only like to know if there are any specific books you would like Harry to obtain for your first session?" A few moments of thought brought a smile to the small to the small wizard's face.

"Actually, I am partial to _'A Warrior's Code: Victory and Success'_ myself. I actually have a copy I will lend to him as I don't believe you can find it anymore without a long search."

"Very good. If I could, I will come by before the week is out."

"That would be fine, Albus. I have a general idea of where I have it and should have no problem finding it before I retire for the night." A nod from Dumbledore and he turned to Minerva.

"From Filius, you had a specific request. I am, at the moment, unsure of what you would like from me. I admit that I am surprised at what I have learned, but there is nothing I can think to add to the situation that can help in any way." Minerva was appreciative that he would want to include her in what his plans were with Harry, but new information aside, there wasn't anything she could help with.

"My request from you is to simply carry on as normal. I only wished for your advice in Harry's handling, as you are his head of house. Also, for those two reasons, and the work each of you performed in the past, I felt it would be beneficial to include you on any decisions to be made about his classes. Also, I didn't know what Filius would like to do, and now that he would like to schedule Mr. Potter's training as a class, I would like you to schedule it as such, rather than them simply meeting up at their conveniences." Dumbledore was a very powerful wizard, exalted for the defeat of Grindelwald, a dark wizard who helped start a war that drew in the whole world, and he fought with every ounce of his inner strength to keep from smiling at the glare his Deputy Headmistress was sending him. She wasn't bothered by work, but knew he could just as easily have done it. Sometimes, the part of him that never grew up couldn't help but want to see that woman get riled up.

"I suppose you would like my helping by allowing him to pass his Potions studies?" Snape's oily voice broke through Dumbledore's musings, making him mentally frown.

"No. I simply wanted your input on training him and your thoughts on what I encountered within his mind."

Snape's initial impulse was to offer a quick 'nothing' in response, but was truly curious about it himself. Taking a few moments to think, he eventually realized he couldn't think of anything to offer. "I'm sorry, but I can't think of anything it could have been. Perhaps a multiple personality or unknown mental defense. It could really be anything, or perhaps even nothing." Dumbledore thought for a moment before nodding his head.

"Yes, I am unsure as well. Perhaps I can make some careful inquiries with a few colleagues in St. Mungo's."

"Do you have any other needs from us, Albus," Minerva asked.

"No. Thank you, all, for coming." Everyone filed out with Flitwick confirming his appointment to have Dumbledore stop by a few minutes before eight by a week's end.

xXxXxXx

Harry was stretching just outside of the Granger's front door with Hermione right next to him. It was still relatively dark out, the day only just beginning to show over the horizon. After five minutes of stretches, they began jogging, Hermione leading the way.

While jogging to the park, Harry was thinking about what he'd experienced with the Grangers while he was there and decided that he'd liked what he had seen. After Dumbledore had left, he was pretty nervous about staying with strangers for the next day and a half, but his worry was quickly squashed by the time lunch was over. They had been polite, joked with him and didn't seem to mind him being there in the slightest. They had actually seemed very happy to actually meet and talk with one of Hermione's friends and get to know the wizarding world from a more personal viewpoint than the intellectual one their daughter had given them. She sent plenty of letters, which she had been embarrassed that they brought up while he laughed, but it was more of daily activities than views over the world as a whole. And coming from someone muggle-raised, it was simple to relate in a way that they had no problems in understanding. Harry continuously offered comparisons, much like he did when talking about that comic he'd purchased and magic.

The only thing that made Harry close to being nervous was when Dan had begun to ask Harry about his financial affairs and his spending habits. He hadn't come right out and asked about how much money he had or if he bought everything he could think of, but he expressed an interest in making sure Harry knew to keep most of what he had, rather than spend it on things now, so that he would have as much as possible for when it was needed. Harry assured him that he'd only recently learned about his inheritance, and that he rarely purchased anything, which eased Dan's mind considerably. He could tell that the boy had a good head on his shoulders. The conversation did make Harry question exactly how much he did have though and if his parents had left him anything else, like letters or personal items that some people stored in banks to keep safe. He'd sent a letter with Hedwig just after waking that he'd written the night before to let them know his interests and requested as much information as they could offer him via owl and to let him know if he had to come in to discuss anything.

Harry was thinking about how Dan Granger reminded him somewhat of the Weasley twins and how he'd be interested in their pranks when he saw the park come in to his line of sight. Deciding to get his mind ready for the run coming up, he began to meditate slightly as he ran, but kept part of his focus on Hermione and her own breathing. When they got into the park, it was still mostly dark, with the sky a little gray and a few pinks coming out now.

"Alright, Harry. I'm actually about at my running limit. I've never really done many sports and I don't think I'm in the best shape. Go ahead and show me the running thing you do and I'll watch from here." She continued to run beside him as she spoke, but broke away just a little as he confirmed her request. She slowed to a quick stop and put her hands behind her head as she watched him begin to run.

He'd immediately gone into a meditative state when she broke away and began to jog, not paying attention to his speed. After about the third pass of the section of the park they were in, she noticed him lurch forward a little and his back straighten as he ran. He didn't seem to really be exerting himself any more and began to go faster and faster. By his fifth pass, he seemed to be actually running like normal, albeit a little faster than usual. When he was on his seventh pass, Hermione's jaw was hanging as she watched him run as fast as some of the athletes she'd seen during the last Olympics season that was broadcast on the television. During his eighth pass, she called his name to get his attention as he passed and winced as he turned slowed slightly and then fell, sliding probably ten feet on the ground when his legs couldn't keep up with his speed.

"Harry, are you alright," she asked as she ran to him.

"Ugh. I have _really_ got to get the hang on stopping." She laughed when she realized he didn't move anything in an odd manner and didn't look to be in pain. He got up a little slowly with her help, but shook his head and then stretched. "I need to learn to do that faster, too."

"Well, it did take you a little while to start, but by the end, you were practically _flying_!" Harry laughed at her enthusiasm.

"I was curious about that. I've never been able to watch myself or my surroundings too well while doing that except for the end." They began to walk back to Hermione's house while they talked and Harry let his heart slow to a normal rate.

"So, what do you do to move like that? Just meditate and it happens? Or meditate and think 'faster', or what? Do you focus your magic through your body?" Hermione was curious about trying it out. She decided it would be good to begin jogging also, especially if Harry was doing it, and the idea of doing something like that thrilled her. It was like a superpower or something.

"Well, actually, yes. I just meditate and try to focus my magic to my legs like they do in the comic. I haven't really tried anything else. That worked for me and I never thought to try another way, actually. I suppose I could try a few different ways and see if any work better. Trying to meditate to make it happen seems to keep taking too long. I'd never be able to use it for emergencies, or quickly, if I needed to. That was why I thought the weights would be a good idea. It would be a quick speed boost by turning them off if we can get anything like that." Hermione nodded her agreement while silently trying to decide how she should go about trying it also.

"I suppose I will practice it during the summer and we can try to do it better during the school year."

"That's what I was planning. I didn't actually think about seeing if anyone else would want to yet. I just planned on asking when school started."

"Were you planning on telling Ron about the occlumency and your running thing?" She asked, making Harry nod.

"Yea. I was going to ask when school started if he wanted to learn it. I can't tell him what I'm going to tell you if he doesn't learn it, but I probably shouldn't tell him that there is something to tell if he says no though. Otherwise, he may get angry that I'm not telling him something."

Hermione was a little surprised he'd thought of that. "Good point. He does get upset about the smallest things. I'd hate to think of how he'd react to that."

Harry made a sound of agreement in his throat. "Yup. I'm going to have to change a few things in how I've studied in the past. The Dursleys don't ask me about school, so I don't need to keep my grades low and Ron shouldn't care about them, so I don't have to worry about that anymore," he missed the look of shock on Hermione's face as he rambled to himself, running over his plans for what was to come again, "I doubt he'd get mad about my grades like he did yours in the beginning. He would have probably failed if it hadn't been for you." He snickered lightly as Hermione gave a snort of displeasure. "I probably would have to. So thanks for that." Another snort from Hermione, though slightly less fierce.

"He asks to copy my work, you usually just ask me to help and do the work next to me. There _is_ a difference." They walked in silence a few more moments. "Harry?"

"Mm?" Harry noticed she seemed a little hesitant.

"What did you mean you didn't have to worry about keeping your grades low?" Hermione watched as Harry appeared to think. She'd noticed the same expression during potions and during the hunt for Flamel.

"Growing up, the Dursleys didn't like when I would do something better than Dudley. I was actually very similar to you, but Dudley was more of a Ron." Harry laughed at his own joke, but Hermione was paying particular attention. The story seemed very simple, so she wasn't sure why he'd had that expression as of yet.

"Anyway, if my grades were better than Dudley, I'd get punished for it, or if I showed any skill in anything, then they'd get angry, so I kept my grades low." He shrugged at that point, not thinking it a big deal anymore. He realized he wouldn't have to keep his grades low any more. If Ron couldn't be his friend because of his grades, then there was something wrong in that. The Dursleys didn't even need to know about his grades and never asked anyway.

"Since they never ask about my grades, and Ron accepts you as smart as you are, I don't see any reason to keep them low. I know I won't be your mental equal or anything, but I certainly plan on doing my work and some extra studies." Hermione was shocked, to say the least. She knew Harry had a bad home life. Little comments here and there, certain mannerisms and the little he had ever told her of his past let her know things were harsh, but that was just sick. That they would force him to do poorly simply because there didn't want their own son to be less than Harry. Now she understood why Harry was leaving for the summer.

"So, what can you tell me about what you know that we have to learn to protect it and that you are planning to do more in your studies?"

"Not much, really. I don't know what the occlumency is for, exactly, just the contents of a prophecy that deals with myself and Voldemort," he ignored her shocked gasp, "and from what I learned last year, it hasn't been fulfilled yet. Beyond keeping the prophesy safe, I don't know what the occlumency is actually for. Well, I guess I can use it for if I ever need it."

"O-oh." Hermione wasn't sure what to say to that. She wanted to ask about the prophecy, but decided she'd look up a bit more information on the subject first, so she could ask when she learned what it was after the occlumency training was done.

They continued to walk towards Hermione's home in silence, the sun having nearly fully risen by that point. It was still early enough that they had plenty of time for showers and making breakfast for when Hermione's parents woke up.

xXxXxXx

Harry and Hermione spent a good part of the day talking with Dan and Emma about anything that they were curious about. They talked about school and their views on the magical world in comparison to the muggle one in the beginning. From there, it was more about every day life and general personality questions. Harry listened more than talked when it came to family-related topics, which wasn't lost on the two adults. Over all, Harry was very fond of the Grangers and could certainly tell where Hermione's personality and attitude came from. The only thing that seemed off was that she didn't seem to inherit any of her father's zeal for joking. She seemed to get most of her personality from her mother.

Dan and Emma got a lot of information about Harry from talking with him through the day. Having taken courses in psychology, they could both read between the lines in what he said, and more importantly, what he didn't say. His mannerisms and actions explained a lot as well. After a few rough minutes where they had to learn what topics were a bit too taboo to bring up, they managed to maintain a very happy conversation.

Harry could easily say that he found himself greatly enjoying the Grangers' home. They were very kind and easy-going people, not unlike Hermione herself, and truly seemed to care about his own views on the topics they discussed. He had no troubles seeing how Hermione became who she is with them as her parents.

They were still talking candidly together when there was a knock at the door. A look at the clock showed that it would be time for Dumbledore to arrive. With a sigh, Hermione got up and answered the door.

**Title**: The Rise of a War Wizard

**Chapter4** – Summer End and Lockhart

**Ships**: Harry/Hermione/Luna, Neville/Susan, Ginny/Hannah

**Key: **"Speech"**, **_'Thoughts'_,** "Speech laden with magic"**, §Parsletongue§

**Rating:** T

xXxXxXx

"Hello, Headmaster," Hermione greeted as she led Dumbledore into the house, his eyes twinkling merrily.

"Good evening, Miss Granger. Did you have an enjoyable day?"

"Oh yes! Harry showed me his speed running thing! It was incredible! He was moving at normal speed for a little while, but then he started picking up and then he was practically flying he was moving so fast!" Dumbledore knew that, of any child in Hogwarts, Hermione Granger was the least likely to embellish a story or lie to authority if it wasn't necessary for some reason. He decided he'd offer to see how their first day of defense training went and let her know he was going to look for the memory of that. He would also look into Harry's mind for the same event, to see what may come about from it.

"Incredible! I was planning on seeing how your defenses have advanced with this day of training. Perhaps I could look for that particular memory, then." Hermione agreed as she led him into the living room.

"Dumbledore's here!" Hermione sat next to Harry as Emma offered the same chair as the day before so that they were each sitting where they had.

"Thank you," he said, sitting. "Harry, this is the book Professor Flitwick would like you to read and be ready for by your first class with him. It will, I am afraid, be one-on-one, but you will be allowed to invite one person on occasion. You will have to get his permission first, however." Dumbledore handed the book to Harry and Hermione's attention quickly split between himself and the wrapped volume now in Harry's hands.

"That is actually Professor Flitwick's copy, so please take care of it. He has mentioned that it is a difficult volume to find, but one of his favorites."

"I'll take good care of it, I promise." Harry unwrapped the book to see it titled _'A Warrior's Code: Victory and Success'_ written in neat script with runes along the sides and spine, a sword, shield and wand were embossed on the front in silver over the worn black leather. It was obviously an ancient tome.

"I'm sure you will, Harry. He has also conscripted to make those weights you suggested. He would have allowed you to do it, but would rather not run the risk of allowing you to make them incorrectly and activate them while being potentially dangerous. He plans to make the spells needed for them and would prefer you get some arithmancy classes before you start making spells, especially ones that could potentially crush a person if done improperly." He was lightly amused as Harry's face paled slightly.

"Harry, he would also like to know what your deactivation word should be," he turned to Hermione, "yours as well, Miss Granger."

"Kai."

"Excuse me, Harry?" Dumbledore turned to Harry after his quick word, thinking the boy was speaking in adult language that he shouldn't be.

"Kai. I want my security word to be 'Kai'. It's already stuck in my head from that comic and means 'dispel' in Japanese. It isn't as obvious as most things I'd probably try, and because of how they use their hands in the comic, I can make a big production of it if needed or say it quietly or whatever as I need to." Dumbledore was surprised, but pleasantly so. Harry had made a very simple choice but thought about the reasons behind it and it was quite a good use. It wasn't likely to be said in idle conversation as it was a Japanese word. Only one thing really bothered him.

"What do you mean about how they used their hands? You mentioned that yesterday."

"Where we use wands, they make shapes out of their hands, called 'seals', to focus with. Some made seals with ink, but that is slow and they can only do so much in a given area. So they used their hands." Harry had actually received that information from the boy he got it from. They had had a conversation about the whole thing, and the handseals were certainly something that had peaked Harry's curiousity.

"Oh, I see. Seals like in Arithmancy. That would make a lot of sense." Dumbledore was referring to the need to focus on something while performing magic, whether it be with a wand, handseals and the like. Therefore, he didn't realize that Harry took his comment as referring to the handseals themselves and believed that he'd just learned that you can perform magic by making shapes out of your hands. Had Dumbledore realized what he'd just done, he would have known exactly what to say. _'Whoops.'_

"Professor, I would like my word to be just like Harry's, since he was right that it wouldn't likely be said often, and you said you wanted to test our defenses to see how we did today and yesterday?" Hermione was hoping she had done well. She was practicing her defenses just like she was supposed to, albeit a little more diligently like Harry, but she was practicing them.

"Quite right. Alright. I will give you each a minute to defend your mind, then I will look into Miss Granger's mind and then Harry's. I will look for your memory of the park, Miss Granger. Harry, I will look for the same within yours." A nod from each and they began.

xXxXxXx

Within Hermione's mind, he watched as she told him she would watch him. Dumbledore turned and watched Harry move. He was a little surprised when Harry made a jerking movement on his third lap, but showed no other signs of trouble, so he continued to watch. Then he became as shocked as Hermione had been. The boy was simply _fast_. Not exactly flying, as Hermione had stated, but certainly an accurate description. He pulled out after chuckling at Harry's comments about learning to slow down.

In Harry's mind, he watched Harry break away from Hermione and the world begin to get a little fuzzy, just like the first time he watched Harry run while meditating. _'Uh oh...'_

During Harry's fourth lap, the world was wavering, much like looking through the heat waves from a road on a hot day. On his fifth lap, things faded out.

"Why are you here again, Albus Dumbledore?" Dumbledore turned to regard the child-like Harry as he spoke in his double voice. He wasn't sure if he should be frightened or not.

"Ah, hello again. I am still teaching Harry to defend his mind and had him try the next stage of defense last night. I am testing his mind today to make sure he is doing a good job of it. May I ask you a question now?" He watched as the child Harry tilted his head to the side as he regarded the old man in front of him. After a few seconds, a sphere showed up between the two of them and expanded far more quickly than Dumbledore could react to, leaving them in a room that he was able to recognize as the living room to Godric's Hollow. The child Harry sat in his seat and then stared at Dumbledore, his only movement was to blink until he sat down.

"Quite marvelous, Young One," Dumbledore didn't want to call the child 'Harry' since he didn't know what kind of reaction he'd get, but felt that was a sound compromise, "do you know where this is?"

"Home." The child Harry cocked his head to the side again, watching the headmaster. The combination of the young child's voice and Harry's current one was a little offsetting, but Dumbledore pressed on.

"I see," he said, looking around. "If I may, do you know where you came from?" Dumbledore waited a few seconds as the child-like creature in front of him seemed to ponder his question.

"I am lost," he finally spoke, though looking a little confused. It certainly wasn't something Dumbledore had expected to hear, either.

"What do you mean? Do you know where you should be?"

The boy looked as though he were thinking hard again. "I should be back with _him._ The one who locked me away." This time, Dumbledore cocked his head to the side, trying to figure out the riddle this boy was telling him. He could tell his questions were beginning to stress the child, but he needed answers.

"I don't understand. Who locked you away? Maybe I can help you get back to him." Dumbledore nearly shivered as the boy looked at him with such a fierce gaze that he wanted to run. It wasn't that the boy scared him, but that he saw _power_ behind those green eyes. Power and need.

"You cannot help us. Only my other half can help me." Suddenly, both were right back where they started after the boy showed up; the black void. "You should go now." The boy seemed to shift away again and then Dumbledore felt himself pushed out of Harry's mind yet again.

xXxXxXx

"I must say, I am quite surprised with you two. Your defenses are quite solid." Both children smiled brightly at him. "They are still quite easily broken through, but you have a very strong foundation and should master this quite quickly." He didn't want their successes to go to their heads, but he was truly surprised. They were advancing very quickly.

_'Perhaps it's because they are children,'_ he thought to himself. _'It is a well-documented fact that children learn easier and faster than teenagers and adults. Maybe that applies to this as well. It would certainly explain things. Except for whoever or whatever that is in Harry's mind. That still doesn't explain why children never seem to progress like this until now, however. Perhaps because these two are truly serious?'_

"Well, I will bring Harry by on Saturday mornings at ten. We will spend about three hours each time working on your defenses. We will begin constant attacks of legilimency, forcing you to build your defenses as we go." He got nods from everyone and then finished. "Alright then, Harry. Are you ready to go now?"

"Oh, one moment, Professor." Harry went to his trunk and opened it up, pulling out all of the Naruto manga that he had. "Sorry, Hermione. I almost forgot I promised these to you." He pulled out the rather large stack and Hermione motioned for him to set them on the table.

"Thanks, Harry."

"No worries, Hermione. I'll owl you in a few days and we can talk about what you think on different things. Hedwig will love the exercise." Harry smiled at Hermione and then turned to put Flitwick's book into his trunk and pulled out the book of poems that he got for her before locking his trunk again. He placed it on top of the manga without Hermione seeing before turning back to Dumbledore. "Okay, ready!"

Another couple of quick good-bye's between Harry and the Grangers left Dumbledore putting a hand on Harry's shoulder to leave with a soft pop. Harry felt the squeezing sensation again and then sliding through a tube. A moment later and he was standing in front of a very tall building, that leaned a little to the side and didn't seem very large around. It was in the middle of the country, it seemed, and surrounded by a large yard area and a thick cluster of trees that Harry assumed to be a small forest. As poorly as he remembered the experience, Harry could already safely say that he would prefer the shifting method he'd used while escaping Dudley and his goons. He felt queasy both times with this one.

"Sir, where are we?" Dumbledore looked at Harry, his eyes twinkling like mad.

"We are in a location that has affectionately come to be known as the 'Burrow', Harry." Harry knew that word!

"Wait, you mean..."

"Yes, Harry. You'll be staying with Mister Weasley and his family until school begins again and this is their home." Harry smiled happily.

xXxXxXx

Hermione had just carried the second half of the large stack of comics Harry had left up the stairs and into her room, along with a poetry book that Harry had apparently left with them, where they could tell she'd already begun reading them. Shaking his head, Dan Granger sat next to his wife and sighed.

"Well, all said and done, what did you think of him?" He could see Emma raise an eyebrow at his question, but take a moment and thought before speaking.

"He was nice and polite, very respectable towards Hermione, seemed to value her opinion if the way he deferred to her on some of the things we talked about was any indication and he can cook very, very well if breakfast this morning was anything to go by." Dan snorted a laugh while agreeing with her.

"I'm worried about his flinching when you made sudden movements around him, like during lunch yesterday when you tried to pat his shoulder." Emma saw Dan frown as he remembered. It was a very slight flinch, but obvious to himself and Emma. It was luck that Hermione was getting another drink from the refrigerator at the time. He hadn't thought that Emma noticed though. Both he and Harry had continued as though nothing had happened and Dan made sure to be very slow and deliberate with his movements when he was close to Harry after that.

"I didn't think you noticed that. I guess we can assume he's been abused, though not recently. He was fine except for when I actually made a move towards him." Emma had to agree. He probably was abused at some point, but without flinching more than he had, or seeming as skittish except for the beginning, it had probably been some time ago.

"Well, he cares for Hermione and is respectable, he's nice and courteous and seems to be an overall good person. So I suppose I do like him. She's made a very good friend in him." Dan sighed. As a father, he was thrilled that she was gaining friends. As an over-protective father, he was scared witless that one of those friends was good boyfriend material. He was only placated towards that regard due to the fact that he was actually just that. 'Good boyfriend material'. Harry would treat her right if it came down to that. In a long time. In a _very_ long time, to be more precise.

"I like him too. I agree. He's a good friend. I hope this Ron bloke is as good to her. She mentions him in a negative light on occasion. But he seems mostly decent towards her." Emma nodded in agreement. She was happy about the whole situation. Hermione was happy, Harry was happy, she was happy that they were happy. Everyone was happy, except for 'over-protective daddy' coming out occasionally in Dan.

xXxXxXx

Harry had met each of the Weasleys in turn aside from two who were, apparently, out of school and working at their jobs. He knew and had met the twins and Percy. He'd seen Ginny at King's Cross, but hadn't actually thought about her since he stepped onto the train. And he'd met Ron's parents. Molly Weasley was a plump woman, not obese, really, but not skinny. She seemed to have a hugging impulse that kicked in often as well. His obvious discomfort appeared to be totally ignored during each and every single hug she seemed to give him.

Arthur Weasley was a skinny man with the same red hair that was prominent throughout the rest of the Weasley clan. He, just as his wife, seemed to have a natural happy disposition and a nearly morbid fascination with all things muggle. The first question not related to the trip or health was about the function of a muggle, or non-magical person's, rubber ducky. He seemed to still be fascinated by such a mediocre thing as a floating bath toy that made no noise and took no action of it's own.

Ginny Weasley was the real surprise. When Molly called her down, she flew down the stairs and into the living room, almost directly into Harry. She barely stopped in time, apologizing as she backed up a couple of steps before she realized who it was. Her back grew ramrod straight with an expression of fear gracing her features and her cheeks pinking slightly. Harry wouldn't have noticed it if he hadn't grown up learning even subtle nuances of facial expressions. He only really understood anger and hatred, but he was able to detect the changes. He just wasn't sure why she was angry with him already. Did she not want him there? It wasn't until after he'd brought it up with Ron that he laughed in Harry's face and said that Ginny was just being a little barmy and would be normal after a few days. Harry just assumed she didn't meet with strangers well.

Harry had needed to beg off a meal from Molly, who claimed him to be nothing but skin and bones. Harry and Dumbledore both said that they had already eaten just a short bit before arriving, which seemed to appease the older woman, even if just barely. They were only forced to eat two helpings.

Harry had finally managed to escape the Weasley greeting he'd received when he arrived by telling Ron he had some things to talk with him about and was sitting on the second bed in Ron's room, his mind still reeling from everyone moving around and making noise. It was a little disorienting when he had just come back from the Grangers' home.

"I still can't believe they didn't tell me you were coming yet!" Ron flopped onto the other bed in his room, which was practically covered in Chudley Cannon orange with all of the posters that he had tacked up on his walls. "But all the same, I'm glad you're here, mate!" Harry had to grin at Ron. He hadn't changed over the couple of weeks out from school.

"Me too. I've got some things to tell you though. How much longer did you plan on staying up?" Ron scoffed as if being asked something he deemed as blasphemous.

"I go until I drop! I can go for days, mate. What did you want to talk about?" Harry took a deep breath before he began.

"Alright, there is a lot, so let me get it all said before you ask any questions and then I can answer whatever you've got." Harry mentally chided himself for saying that when he realized he couldn't tell Ron the actual reason for his occlumency training if he asked.

"Sure, mate."

"Well, first thing is I've been studying occlumency for a couple of days and was wondering if you would want to learn it with me. Basically, you have to meditate, to clear your mind, and then you create defenses around your memories so no one can read them. It also makes it so that you can keep secrets and things because no one can read those memories either." Harry was trying to make it sound a little enjoyable by adding that last bit, but didn't think he was doing too well of a job.

"That sounds cool. But what is this meditating thing? And how long does it take to learn?" Ron could see the benefit of keeping his secrets... well, secret. He had no clue what that meditation thing was though. It sounded painful.

"It takes a while to learn because of the meditation thing. Meditation is basically where you sit still for a while and think of nothing and try not to move and such. I've been meditating about eight hours a day for the past six and a half weeks and I'm just now, well, yesterday actually, started making walls around my memories. Dumbledore is going to test my shields on Saturdays and help me learn to make my shields along with Hermione's. She began learning this just before school let out. I've got the book if you want to read the first chapter and try it out." Ron looked to be in thought about something before he actually answered.

"Would I have to spend eight hours a day on this? And how do you think of nothing?" He didn't sound too enthused.

"No, you can spend as much or as little time as you want. The book says half an hour before bed, but I've been doing a lot longer than that so I can learn it faster. Right now, I should have it done, at least the first bit, about a month after we get back to Hogwarts, according to Dumbledore." At Ron's grimace, Harry knew he'd lost him.

"No, mate, I don't think I want to spend _eight hours_," Harry noticed the emphasis on the length of time, "of each day during summer break doing that. If you spend that much time a day and won't be done before school starts again, then it would take me until the end of the year to do it, and I don't want to spend that much time doing it. Sorry, mate." Harry shook his head.

"No, its alright. You didn't have to learn it or anything, I was just curious." Harry decided there wasn't much else that he had to be careful about, so he continued. "I did have a few other questions though."

"Like what? More studying?"

Harry offered a sheepish smile. "Something like that. Over the past couple of weeks, I've been learning to do some new things with my magic."

Ron's eyes bugged out. "You can do magic outside of school and not get in trouble!"

"Sort of. You can, too. I don't know exactly how it works, but the Ministry, who detects magic use, can only detect it if you use a wand, and then they match the wand used to their records. If you aren't supposed to use magic, you get in trouble. What I've learned to do is run faster than normal, but it required meditating, so I don't know if you can do it without it." Ron was beginning to second guess his choice, but didn't say anything.

"Anyway, I am going to try and find a faster way to do it, and if I do, I may not need to meditate to do it. But that is just where the rest of my story begins."

Harry went on to tell Ron about the comics he'd bought a week after getting back and how it inspired him to do those things and then went on to explain how he asked Dumbledore about the weights. Ron thought those were really interesting, but didn't think he'd want them. He felt he was in great shape and only people who wanted to get really strong used weights. Harry knew, from Hermione's example, that trying to convince Ron would be pointless. If he ever changed his mind, he'd only have to let Harry know. Harry decided there would be no point in bringing up the dueling lessons.

"So, that's really all you've done with your summer? You sat still for eight hours a day, did some running around a park and exercises and that's about it, right?"

"Eh, yea. Basically." It had seemed like more when Harry thought back on it. "Oh, that, and I finished my homework the first three days." That certainly made Ron balk.

"Oi! Three days!"

"Yea. I was stuck in my room the whole time, so I took care of it all." Ron shook his head and began to disrobe, getting his bedclothes on while Harry followed suit.

"Think you can let me borrow it to ... uh, make sure my own work is- HOLY SHITE HARRY!" Ron's rather loud exclamation made Harry turn around quickly to see what made him yell. A quick look around showed nothing odd in the room, outside of the usual magical things that were already there anyway, but it did show Ron staring at Harry.

"Huh? What?"

"Harry, your chest! You've got a bunch of muscles now!" Ron's rather pointed observation was met with a blank stare before Harry actually looked at his body. He'd been so used to getting into the shower, cleaning and getting out as fast as possible that he never took the time to actually look at himself. He didn't have massive muscle definition, but his muscles were defined, where before, he was smooth.

"Huh, I guess I do." Harry shrugged and then finished getting dressed. He really didn't care about how he looked, and it wasn't really much of a change. Without being starved for the six weeks he was at the Dursleys', and the regular exercise, his body got into better shape. Harry hadn't realized it would still take longer than two weeks to make as much of a change to his body as he'd already received. He did decide to do more push-ups, though. He rather enjoyed seeing his chest like that. More sit-ups would benefit also. He may not have cared what it looked like, but he actually had visual proof that his exercising was helping. Ron simply shook his head and muttered about exercising being troublesome. Neither noticed a little creaking sound outside of Ron's doorway, or the shadows under the doorway that disappeared.

"I may want to use the weights after all." Ron was mumbling, but it was just loud enough for Harry to understand it, though he decided not to respond.

Harry was planning on pulling out Flitwick's book, but decided it would be better to do that tomorrow. Tonight, he would work on his occlumency and then go to bed.

xXxXxXx

"What do you think he knows that he needs to learn occlumency?"

"I don't know, but I'd really love to hear about it."

"Too right!"

"Perhaps we should keep an eye on our new house guest? We can't, after all, let him do anything that could potentially harmful to himself while our family is taking care of him."

"You are quite right, dear brother. I'm also curious to see this faster-than-normal running thing he mentioned."

"As am I. Perhaps it would be best to come up with a few plans and decide what we shall do next."

"I agree. We plan and then execute."

"I wonder if he'll learn anything else while he is here. It would be most beneficial, of course, if someone was keeping an eye on him if he decides to continue his running while here. We can't let him get lost or kidnapped, now can we?"

"Oh no. We can't have that. We may even have to sell him our dear little sister to keep him appeased."

"That we may, brother mine! She would already like to become the great Mrs Potter! She's only wanted to hear his stories every night for years."

"Hm. Possibly. But perhaps we'll figure that out later when we know how to do it without the scary Gin-Gin coming out or Banshee Mother." As was part of the rite both boys had come up with when mentioning either scary woman's persona, they crossed their fingers in a strange fashion and locked their hands together, shaking once and then crossing their hearts. Then, the two identical red-headed boys got to work on making their plans to monitor their new interest. Which certainly wouldn't be good for either Harry, or themselves if caught.

xXxXxXx

The morning after arriving at the Weasleys', Harry woke up before dark, like normal. He got into some daily clothes and went downstairs slowly, still unsure of the Weasley house. Stepping outside, he breathed in the smell of the countryside. Harry took his time stretching while he enjoyed the smells and sounds around him. After he was done, he took off, running wherever his feet felt like taking him. He simply made sure to pay attention to his path so he could find his way back.

Harry arrived back at the Burrow about an hour after full daylight. He walked around a few minutes in the back yard to calm his heart down a little before beginning his calisthenics. He'd learned the hard way to not go directly into them when he realized he was too tired to do them properly.

Harry had finished his push-ups and sit-ups and began his occlumency when he heard Molly yell up the stairs to her children to wake up for breakfast. Harry was initially startled, but quickly shook his head and calmed back down. It wasn't until he heard one of the twins asking where he was, since he wasn't in Ron's room, that he realized he'd have to handle his occlumency a little later. With a sigh, he got up and went inside to find a relieved Molly.

"Harry, dear, where were you at?"

"I finished running and was working on my occlumency training." Molly seemed a little shocked that he'd even be up, much less exercising. She also seemed surprised that he'd actually admitted the truth. Harry assumed it was a result of the twins' existence.

"Oh, well, the next time, let someone know you'll be out so we don't worry." Harry nodded.

"Alright, Mrs. Weasley." He sat where she was indicating.

"Good, now sit here and eat up. Once Ron gets down, the food seems to just disappear." Harry chuckled, remembering all the mornings where he would nearly inhale his food. Harry began thinking about where he could practice his occlumency. He could already tell that anything inside the house was just about impossible. There was just far too much noise. Thinking over where he'd run earlier, he decided he could go a small distance into the woods behind the house and enjoy the quiet there.

It was purely his knowledge over the twins' antics that made him watch them with a critical eye and, therefore, he was able to tell when they poured a potion into his juice.

"Not today, guys." Their downcast faces changed to pure happiness as they watched him change his cup with the one set out for Ron.

"I do believe that-"

"We have an accomplice-"

"In crime!" They both laughed as they finished the sentence together, making Harry smile and shake his head.

"Nah, but I expect this to be good." Five minutes later, a red-faced Ron found himself unable to communicate to anyone other than the animals he was now mimicking. Apparently, the potion altered one's vocal chords from human to a wide range of animals. It was an amused Harry who found himself in the woods for his occlumency, unaware of the two following him.

xXxXxXx

Harry had received his training weights the Saturday after arriving at the Weasley home. He had immediately set them to twenty pounds each and tested his security word. They really worked beautifully. Hermione had done the same, only with ten pounds on each when Dumbledore had taken Harry to the Granger residence. He had thought the same thing Harry had in regards to how much they could get done inside the Burrow. Ron wore his weights as well in the beginning, but didn't have them activated. They were simple bracelets that were skin-tight, but didn't cut off circulation and felt like a metal fabric. Harry had absolutely no clue what it was made of, but loved the material. It weighed him down, without chaffing his wrists or ankles.

Since he had obtained his weights, he made sure to run twice a day, rather than the once, and he tried his best to do as much physical activity as possible so he didn't just lay about with weight on his wrists and ankles. He also played Quidditch with the Weasleys in an attempt to see how the weights affected his flying and was disappointed to find that it changed his dynamics severely. Far too often, they nearly caused him to fall off of the broom from the additional weight in different directions, so he was forced to start deactivating them before he left the ground.

After talking with Ron, Harry had begun trying to find a different way to make himself run faster, without having to go into a meditative state first. He fell back on his letter from Dumbledore in the beginning where he gave a brief description of wandless magic where he said that it was based on will and intent. Basing his attempts on that, he decided to simply try and move faster by force. After two weeks, he'd found a way to increase his speed almost immediately, but it wasn't nearly as vast a difference as in the manga. When Hermione was done with them after their second meeting for occlumency, which she only kept after the first to make more notes on, Harry had taken them back to let Ron read. Apparently, he wasn't interested when the pictures didn't move. The twins were interested in it, however, so Harry let them borrow it after getting their word not to do anything with them.

It was only three days before the Hogwarts letters would arrive that Harry began to wonder about what Dumbledore had been doing to take him to Hermione's home and how he'd remembered the experience before learning about Hogwarts where he'd run from Dudley and his friends where he thought he'd 'shifted' to get to the roof in the school. He decided he'd start thinking of how it worked and practice it when he felt he had the time.

He'd been targeted a few more times by the twins for their pranks and had, regretfully, not caught them in time. His only saving grace had been that they were more interested in watching him for any signs of what he had been up to than actually pranking him. He just didn't know it.

The twins were almost adamantly against getting up as early as Harry got up to watch him run, but when he started running later in the day as well, they wound up watching him on their brooms. After reading the manga for themselves, they were quite interested in finding magical means to make several of the things they had read about as possible.

Harry had written back and forth with Hermione to discuss different aspects of the Naruto manga, which eventually branched into their own ideas on magic and how it can be used. After Harry's success with running and channeling magic to his eyes, Dumbledore had decided to simply say that the imagination is the limit, and anything is possible if the correct way is found to do it. Harry had been working on what he was beginning to think of as 'mage sight', since it was done using magic. He'd gotten to the point where it could see some magic, but found that it began to get painful if he held it for too long. A few seconds were all that he could handle, though it was better than the almost immediate pain when he first found his new method of channeling magic to his eyes. Hermione had sent him a journal to record his findings and got a promise out of him to record his findings as clearly as possible. Harry had begun to do just that, making very detailed analyses and comments about his ideas. He even wrote out both methods for running, feeling that one way may not be as good as another for someone else. He'd begun to think of the book as where he would store all of his spells and ideas he came up with.

Harry had worked on his running and eye-sight concepts, along with the occlumency and ideas for other things he'd worked on with Hermione, and Flitwick's book so diligently, that he'd forgotten about Dobby and his message of doom until owls flew through the kitchen window with their Hogwarts letters.

xXxXxXx

Harry, Molly, Arthur and Ginny were all in the kitchen when two owls came through the window, carrying sealed letters from Hogwarts. Arthur released the owls from their burdens, each happily getting a piece of bacon from Harry, while Molly called up the stairs to let her children know they'd arrived.

"Kids! Your letters are here!" There was an almost instant barrage of thumps and muffled sounds coming from above them. Arthur handed Harry his own letter and set the rest down for everyone to get as they got downstairs. Harry opened his to find an welcoming letter for his second year and his book list as well. Harry found that his Defense Against the Dark Arts class had several books he had to get this year.

'_Hm. Maybe this year's teacher won't be so bad. It looks like he wants to teach us-, wait a minute... They're all by the same person. I wonder if he was a great defense person or duelist like Professor Flitwick._'

Harry frowned lightly and decided he'd wait and see what he thought when he met him at school.

All of the children had found their way down to the kitchen and read their letters. Ron's and Harry's were identical, much to Molly's detriment. She would have to buy several sets of new books for each of her children. Ginny's was identical to Harry and Ron's first year aside from the defense books.

"Molly, when do you plan to go to Diagon Alley?" Molly looked to Harry after looking over each of her children's book lists to see what they required that they didn't already have.

"Probably tomorrow. Why do you ask?" She was happy that Harry finally started calling her 'Molly'. She hadn't, however, considered the need for Harry to withdraw any money until that moment, and wondered if this was what that was about.

"I would like to owl Hermione to let her know when we plan on arriving to see if she wants to shop with us." Molly looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I don't see any reason why not. We'll leave here at ten so we can be back early for lunch, how does that sound?"

"I think that should work. I will owl her and let her know." He walked up to the room he shared with Ron and pulled out his writing supplies before deciding on a better course of action. He put his things back and decided to run to Ottery St. Catchpole and call her on a pay phone from there. It was a muggle town and was sure to have one. He went back downstairs and went to Molly.

"Actually, I can get a reply faster if I call her. Do you mind if I go to town and call her on the phone?" Being a pureblood family, Molly had no clue what Harry was talking about.

"Call her? Harry, dear, what are you on about?"

Arthur was practically bouncing in his seat from enthusiasm. "You mean those muggle devices where you talk through one end and it sends your voice somewhere else?"

"Basically, yea," Harry shrugged.

"Harry, didn't you already go running this morning like usual?" Harry turned back to Molly when she asked her question.

"Yes, but it isn't that far, really, and I can actually talk with her rather than send letters back and forth. It's just faster this way." Molly looked like she was about to object, primarily to Harry going into town alone, but Arthur beat her to it.

"That should be fine, Harry. But I don't have to leave for another hour and can take you in to town if you would prefer. It only takes a few minutes in the car."

"That would be great, thank you."

xXxXxXx

The next day, Harry snagged his wizarding money pouch and slipped it into a deep pocket in his robes. It still held just over one thousand galleons along with the forty-something he'd still had during the school year, unsure of what he may need when he came in. He'd just dressed from his shower and had already finished a quick run. It was still partially dark outside, so Harry sat in the living room and worked on his occlumency until everyone else had awakened.

Harry decided very early on in the summer that he would get several books at the beginning of the school year. He knew he wouldn't have enough space in his trunk for what he planned on and decided he would get a new trunk that had an expanded compartment that he'd noticed when Hagrid had taken him to get his trunk. Hagrid had taken him in and just gotten him a very basic trunk for his supplies. He was hoping for something more along the lines of one he could hold as much as he needed to. He would also see what else they could do on them. Christmas would also be a good thing to remember on his list.

Harry was occluding his mind when he heard a rather common shriek coming from upstairs. Unaware it was coming, he jumped and felt the adrenaline start pumping through his body.

"Fred! George! I'm going to hex you for that!" Two laughing red-heads ran down the stairs and into the kitchen, followed by a furious Ginny who chased them all the way down to the foot of the stairs, still in her nightgown. "Bloody little-" She cut off with a dark red blush when she realized Harry was watching the encounter from the couch.

"Er, hello, Ginny." A small squeak and Ginny turned on her heel and fled from the scene back to her room. "Well, that could have been less weird."

"I don't believe it could-"

"Have been less weird-"

"Though you could probably have made things more interesting-"

"If you would go up to her and give her a good snogging-"

"And make her-Oomph!" Harry wasn't sure which it was, but he launched a pillow and got one of them in the face.

"You two should really learn who to make enemies and who not to, you know." Harry got up and walked slowly and deliberately towards them with measured steps, a small smirk on his face.

"Eh, Harry? You alright there, mate?" The first twitchy twin spoke.

"Just fine. But I do believe that I now have the right to come up with payback." He let his face fall into a full-out smile and then blanked his face quickly and spoke in a monotone. "Soon." He kept his face stoic for as long as possible as he walked into the kitchen.

Fred leaned over to George. "Right scary, that one is."

"Too right. What do you think he'll do?"

"What _can_ he do?" George thought for a moment before answering.

"I don't know, and I am actually worried about it." Fred nodded his agreement.

"Keep our eyes open?"

"Always."

"Right."

The twins stepped lightly around Harry all the way up until they were ready to leave for the Leaky Cauldron, at which point they seemed to have forgotten the entire thing.

"Um, why are you guys about to walk into the fireplace?" It looked more like they were about to walk into a fiery demise.

"Oh, that's right, Dear. I forgot you haven't done this before. You just grab some of this floo powder and throw it into the fire. When it turns green, step in and call out your destination. Be sure to speak clearly or you may end up somewhere random, and we certainly don't want that. Here. Ron will go first and show you. Ron?" Ron grabbed a handful of gray powder and did as prescribed.

"Diagon Alley!" The flame flared a bit and then turned back to yellow and Ron was gone.

"Your turn, Harry." Molly looked far too eager and happy for Harry's comfort zone. Nonetheless, he did just as Ron did and experienced a rather dreadful arrival. The trip itself wasn't so bad, but arrival was a pain when he was hurled from the hearth.

"Harry!" Two small hands helped him stand up and he smiled at the face of Hermione a second before she glomped him in a hug about the same as when he first arrived at her home. Harry stiffened slightly as he smiled at the brown-haired fluff in front of him.

"Hello, Hermione! Have you been waiting long?"

"Not really, I-"

"Er, you may want to get out of the way for more incoming traffic," Ron said from the side. They stepped to the side while everyone else came through.

"As I was saying, not really. I jut got here about four minutes ago. We'd just sat down and then we saw Ron come through the fire."

"Ah, good." Harry watched as the twins popped through at the same time.

"How has the rest of your summer gone?"

"Pretty good," he said with a smile. "I figured out a new way to run faster without meditating on it first and I can do the magic eyes thing for about twenty seconds before it starts to hurt. I am getting to where I can do it for longer without it hurting the more I do it." Harry was very excited about the changes. He'd planned on waiting until they got to school to tell her, but it just sort of came out in a rush.

"That great, Harry! When we get to Hogwarts, you'll have to teach me to do that!" Enthusiastic Hermione had returned with a vengeance as her parents, who'd easily overheard her, chuckled.

"No worries, Hermione. Have you been learning anything additional on your own?"

"Well, I started exercising more, especially after getting the weights. Mostly just moving around with them on and getting used to them. I've also been reading some things. My parents and I found a second-hand bookstore where all of the books were far cheaper and I could get several extras with the price limit they gave me." Harry laughed as the last of the Weasleys came through the fireplace. Once Molly was through, everyone walked to the back of the Leaky Cauldron and into Diagon Alley. Arthur stayed behind a few moments to talk to someone from the Ministry, saying he'd meet them at Gringotts.

"Alright, everyone! Off to Gringotts, then we can circle around, come along!" Molly's strong voice made each child stand straight and begin following before Harry remembered he had plenty of cash on him.

"Er, Molly. I actually have my galleons on me. I have an extra stop I planned to make, do you mind if I go to the trunk shop first and meet you back at Gringotts?" Molly frowned at him but didn't see any problems with it. There were enough people around that Harry could make a scene if he needed to.

"Very well, but I want someone to go with you." She began to look at her children, deciding which would be the least dangerous to be off on their own with him when Emma stepped forward.

"I could take him. Dan and I don't both need to go to Gringotts to change our money." Molly looked relieved, probably because she was.

"Oh, that would be wonderful. Thank you. We'll wait for you two there." Emma nodded and put her hand between Harry's shoulders, turning him towards the magical trunk shop, ignoring him when he stiffened under her touch. The rest of the group went off to Gringotts and became lost in the crowd while Emma and Harry entered the shop. Immediately, they were hit by the smell of leather, fabric and oils.

Emma followed Harry as he walked directly up to the counter where the young woman behind it stood, looking bored.

"Hello, welcome to Natas' Trunk Shop. How can I help you?" Her eyes widened as she finished, noticing Harry's scar.

"I came here last year for a trunk and, at the time, only got the basic one. I remembered seeing one that I was thinking of getting at the time, but didn't, and would like to get a new one and find out what options I can get on it." The woman shook herself out of her staring to listen to what he was saying.

"Alright, we have several different kinds of trunks, what were you looking for?"

"Can you tell me what you have? I know what I want, but there may be something closer to what I'm thinking of."

"Okay. Well, we have normal trunks, trunks with up to nine compartments, trunks with full apartments in them up to eight rooms of whatever type you want, trunks for books only-"

"Can the apartment trunk have a library in it?" The woman raised an eyebrow, silently thanking the creator of the word 'commission'.

"You can have libraries, bedrooms, living areas, kitchens, bathrooms," she paused to catch her breath, "whatever you want, basically." Harry shook his head before remembering that he still had to go to the Dursleys'.

"What about security charms and such?" Emma could have sworn she heard a cash register ding within the girl's head. She frowned, but listened to where Harry was going with all of this. It was his money and she knew she couldn't stop him if he wanted any of it. And security charms were quite practical, if they were what they sounded like.

"Well, you can get a charm so that only you and whoever you choose can open it, a charm for near weightlessness as weightless is too noticeable to muggles, anti-theft compulsion charms, automatic shrinking and enlarging to fit within your pocket since you can't do magic outside of Hogwarts and an impervious charm so it doesn't break easily or catch fire in a bad situation."

'_Jackpot!'_ The girl behind the counter saw his eyes light with that one.

"How large are the rooms?"

"That depends on how much you pay for them. The room prices are here," she handed him a small pamphlet with the pricing for apartment rooms in it, "and you can choose what you want. No furniture comes with them though, just so you know. And as an aside, even if a trunk is tossed around, the inside stays perfectly stable."

"How much for an apartment trunk like this," he said, pointing out his room sizes, "and all of the additional charms placed on it that you mentioned?" She couldn't stop the grin that came across her face.

"The trunk, with those rooms, is a fifteen galleons and the charms come to a total of eighteen sickles."

"I'll take one. I'll also take one with five rooms, this and this, with all of the charms as well." The rather happy woman smiled and said it would be only a few moments, her grandfather would have them ready quickly and dashed into the back.

"Harry, why are you getting two?" Emma could almost see getting one. From what she could tell, he was probably hoping it would be some kind of refuge from his family, but the second one completely confused her.

"I have a plan for it." In actuality, he hadn't even considered it until just then, but it would make a good place for Hermione to stash her wizarding books and items in the first room of the trunk, while the second could be whatever she wanted it to be. A library, a reading room, place for potions or storage or whatever she wanted. The normal compartment it came with meant she would have her normal trunk functions as well. This would solve the problem that Emma had mentioned about the library and locked doors. At least he had a good idea for Christmas now. He just had to figure out what to get the others now.

"This will be Hermione's Christmas present and you don't have to worry about redecorating that extra room you have. You can just redecorate the trunk." Emma was rather surprised. It was a very good idea, and much more discrete than a locked room would be.

"That's a wonderful idea Harry, but isn't this a little much?" She wasn't sure how to feel about the look he'd given her after asking that. It was like he thought she was a lunatic.

"I don't see why it would be. It's practical and much easier than what your original plan was, and I was able to take care of one Christmas present early." He smiled widely at her. "It also means I can toss whatever purchases we have today into it and barely have to carry a thing!" Emma couldn't help but smile. He was such a guy when it came to shopping.

Four minutes later, the girl came back with two trunks, which had apparently already been crafted, and only needed specifications.

"Alright. Now, this one is the one with six rooms, two compartments and all of the charms. To set the security charms, you need tap this symbol here and say 'Paro Salus ad Harry Potter'. No worries, this won't get you in trouble with the Ministry. We have an agreement for just these very things."

Harry did as he was told and watched as the trunk glowed a fierce amber color as soon as he finished the incantation. Once done, the girl behind the counter shook the light from her eyes and motioned him to do the same with the second trunk.

"That one is actually going to someone else. Do they just do the same thing?"

"Yes, let me write out the incantation for you." She ripped a page out of her notebook by the till and wrote it out. "To size it, just tap it with your wand and say 'shrink' or 'enlarge'. No magic is actually used, so you can do this at home."

"Thank you. Anything else I need to know?"

"No, Mister Potter, that should be it." Emma noticed that Harry had never given his name, but she still knew it.

"Alright, thank you. Can the shrinking charm still be used on that one without it being set to anyone?"

"Oh, yes. It will work with anyone until they set the security charms. Since the charms are tied to a witch's or wizard's magical imprint, they won't take affect until they're actually set. If you decide to add anyone, just tap that same security plate and say 'add' and then the person's name. Then they have to tap it and give their own name so it will recognize the magical signature. Muggles can be keyed as well, but it will detect life force instead of magic after that."

"Thank you" Harry paid his new twenty-two galleons and twenty sickles cost, plus a slight discount for either being him or buying two trunks, he was unsure, for both trunks and shrank them, putting his own trunk in his inside pocket and the other on the outside pocket. From there, they both headed off to Gringotts.

Harry and Emma met up with the rest of the group in Gringotts, with Dan only third in line. Emma walked over to him to keep him company while the kids all congregated by Molly, who had returned only a few moments before.

"Hey, mate! What did you go and get?" Ron was curious about what Harry went to get when he hadn't told him anything about it.

"I had to get a new trunk, my old was was filling up with too much stuff that I couldn't leave at the Dursleys'."

"Oh, that makes sense." It also gave Harry an idea.

"Oh, Mrs. Weasley. Actually, I don't need my trunk this year anymore since it is almost too small to carry my things around. If you had to get Ginny one, you can give her mine. I didn't plan on doing anything with it."

"Oh, Harry, thank you, Dear. That would be wonderful." Molly didn't want to say as much, but getting all of those books for their Defense Against the Dark Arts classes would hit them harder than they would like. This would save her roughly twenty galleons, which would be two or three of those books.

"No worries." Everyone missed Ron's ears tinting red.

_'Oi! I'm his friend! If he wants to give anyone his stuff, it should be me!'_ Ron wasn't in a great mood from that point. It also didn't help that he began to wonder if Harry thought of his kid sister as something other than a sister.

They continued through and bought the rest of their supplies from each store, saving Flourish and Blotts for last, since books were the heaviest of the items to get, especially with the number they had to buy. When they arrived, they found the shop to be almost completely filled with people. As they walked in, they noticed a gaggle of giggling women by a table in the center of the room, a picture of a man with a flashy smile making poses on a paper tacked to the support column, the name 'Gilderoy Lockhart' printed in large, formal text below it.

"What's going on here?" Harry didn't see any of the other shops nearly this busy. Molly turned, excitedly, after his question.

"Harry, Gilderoy Lockhart is doing a book signing! Isn't it wonderful?" Harry had absolutely no clue who or what she was talking about. Therefore, he decided to simply keep quiet. Sadly, that wasn't going to be the case after Molly's rather loud proclamation of his name, causing Lockhart to see who was talking over himself. When his eyes landed on Harry, a grin not unlike Dudley's, spread across his face, causing Harry to immediately go on the defensive.

_'Oh, bloody hell, no...'_ Harry thought as Lockhart advanced on him.

"Harry Potter!" Lockhart made sure to speak loud enough that the reporters would hear him, making them turn and begin to snap photos as though their lives depended on it. He also made sure to put his arm around Harry's shoulders, holding him in place beside him.

"Yes, kind witches and wizards! Harry Potter himself has come to purchase my books for his next school year at Hogwarts, but even he did not know how fortunate he would be this day!" Harry noticed Lockhart was speaking just like the other kids during plays in primary school. He was trying to pull away without making too much of a scene at this point, but failed as Lockhart handed him a heavy stack of his books.

"You see, when Harry came in here today, he did not expect to get my autographed and complete set of works, including my most recent autobiography, '_Magical Me_'!" An overly enthusiastic clapping met his statement. Harry decided it would be better to try and fight his way out from under Lockhart's arm.

"But what Harry didn't realize, is that he will be getting the _real_ magical me! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, for this coming school year, I have been conscripted as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor!" Harry took the moment where everyone began to cheer and clap as the chance to kick Lockhart in the shin and twist out of his grasp, taking the books Lockhart handed him in the process. Harry noticed all too well how Lockhart seemed to act exactly like his uncle Vernon when entertaining business associates, when he would talk about them as scum when they weren't there. He also noticed that Lockhart seemed to like the media too much.

"What an idiot!" Harry thought he'd spoken quietly and to himself, but apparently, Molly heard him.

"Harry! You shouldn't talk like that about people!" Her outburst got the attention of the Grangers, Arthur and the twins.

"I'm sorry, but he had no right to pull me in like that or tell a bunch of people what I was doing here when he didn't know." Molly only frowned at him and looked at him as though he had a lot to learn.

"Harry," she sighed, "he was only being friendly. He's a great wizard. When you get him in class, I'm sure you'll change your opinion. Now let's get our books and continue, I'm going to see if he'll autograph Ginny's books." Harry frowned, but decided to let it be.

"She can have these ones. I don't like taking things that I don't really earn. Besides, they're already autographed." Molly was too happy to get the autographed versions to really notice she was getting them from Harry for free.

"Well, Potter. It seems you can't go anywhere without seeking attention," a familiar drawl come from the steps behind the group. They turned to find Draco and Lucius Malfoy standing on the stairs going up to the second story.

"What do you want, Malfoy!" Ron was already in a bad mood, and seeing Malfoy gave him an outlet.

"Oh, nothing, Weaselby," Draco looked at Ron and his family as though they were bugs, "but I do see that your family finally needs to take charity." The twins and Harry were the only thing keeping Ron from making it to the blonde boy in front of him. Even with the three of them, he was fighting enough to make them struggle with him.

"Ah, Arthur. Perhaps you could teach your ... children ... some manners and how they should speak to their betters." Lucius stepped down the stairs as he spoke, stopping in front of Ginny. He grabbed two books from her cauldron and looked at them with disdain.

"Still requiring second-hand books, I see." He dropped three books back into her cauldron with a sneer. "I do believe we should speak with the Ministry about restricting the number at which people breed." Arthur was a kind man at heart, in truth. He loved his family and was very generous. However, that didn't count in cases where his family was being insulted.

Almost as soon as Lucius was finished speaking, he found himself punched in the face and an enraged Weasley on top of him, beating the hell out of him with Ron and the twins yelling in happiness as they launched themselves after a terrified Draco.

Harry knew that Malfoy was powerful politically, so he did the first thing that came to mind; he used the same technique for increasing his speed, but applied it to his entire body, just like he'd read about in the manga and walked directly up to Arthur and Lucius, grabbing Lucius, who'd found his way on top, and flinging him several feet away from Arthur, where he hit the wall with a grunt.

"Stop." Harry spoke with a calm and powerful command, leaving a surprised Arthur nodding on the ground. Then he went to where the three Weasleys were happily pounding on the younger generation. He pumped a little more magic through his body to increase his strength a little more. Luckily, Harry was moving fast enough that only a few people caught the whole thing, none of which were reporters who were paying attention to Lockhart again, and watched as Harry walked away from the prone form of Arthur and to the other three redheads on Draco. Harry reached out and lifted the twins off of him, tossing them to the side a short distance, not wanting to hurt them and then grabbed Ron, lifting him up quickly and pulled him towards the twins.

"Stop that! If you guys fight them you can get in trouble!" Harry was cut off by an irate Ron.

"Harry! They-"

"I know! They taunted you and your family, but fighting with them can get you guys into serious trouble!" Harry was saved from having to try and explain anything more by a furious Molly who grabbed her husband by the ear.

"I would have expected better from the two of you! Pathetic, really, acting like children!" Arthur looked honestly ashamed of himself whereas Lucius looked angry to be talked down to in public, and with Harry's statement that they instigated the whole thing, it would take a lot of clout, which he decided he didn't want to press, to get them in trouble. Instead, he had a better idea.

"You don't need to worry, Weasley. I don't think I will press charges against your family for attacking Draco and myself." Arthur was angry all over again, but was willing to put his pride aside for his family's sake. He was smart enough to know that this was the best they could hope for. If he pressed it, Malfoy could cause them far too much harm.

"Come, Draco. We can be the better men and leave these ... people, to themselves." With that, Lucius walked out of the store, his head held as high as he could put it, Draco following after him, sulking and rubbing his jaw and stomach.

Molly and Hermione both began ranting to the men in the Weasley family while they waited to pay for their books. No one wanted to come up to Harry after he pulled Lucius off of Arthur and threw him against the wall, even if it was only four feet. That was still a decent distance for a twelve year old. The only real problem was that his body ached all over now. It was basically like using his muscles for far longer than normal due to the strength needed from them. Deciding to finish what he wanted and be done with it, Harry made his way to purchase several books in defense, dueling, arithmancy since Dumbledore had mentioned it when speaking about seals, transfiguration and charms along with all of his school books.

When everyone had finished their shopping, they went back to the Leaky Cauldron and began going home. All of the Weasleys except Arthur went through the floo while Harry stayed behind a few minutes to finish saying goodbye to Hermione after Ron said his to her. She made sure to make him promise to explain how he moved Lucius so easily and teach it to her the next school year.

Promises to talk during their last occlumency lesson before school started and they parted ways, Arthur following Harry back to the Burrow to make sure he made it alright.

After arriving, Harry went upstairs to clean out his trunk and heard Molly begin a new rant towards Arthur and the Weasley boys. Harry took his trunk into Ron's room and decided to open it into the normal trunk compartment and he would owl for a couple of supplies to stock his library and a bedroom with basic things after he got to Hogwarts. He cleared his trunk in only a few minutes, tossing everything into his new trunk to be organized later. Once done, he grabbed the trunk and took it downstairs to give to Ginny, who took it with only a small squeak after seeing him.

"Here you go, Ginny." She took it quietly and then looked away from him, sitting still again. Harry just waved it off as a Ginny thing and decided to take a short nap. His body was still aching and he wanted to rest. He went back upstairs and made sure Hedwig had everything she needed and put two snacks in her bowl for her for when she woke up. He laid down and was just about to fall asleep when Ron burst into the room.

"Hey, mate! Mum says lunch is ready!" He turned and ran downstairs while Harry got up and grumbled about lunch time coming at an inconvenient time in the day.

xXxXxXx

It was two days before they were to go to King's Cross and Hogwarts. Harry had increased his weights twice for an additional ten pounds from when he began in total and was beginning to get the hang of stopping with his new method of running quickly. He'd had to sacrifice the learning he'd done with his first method as it always caused him to fall as soon as he tried to use his previous method. But he gladly relearned stopping for the immediate speed boost. He just really wished the strength boost would have been as much as the speed. The only reason Lucius went as far as he had was because he was practically standing over Arthur and was easy enough to move. Adding more magic into it seemed to help, but it was hard to do. He could make it do what he wanted, but he found that, to make more magic go into whatever it was, that he had to really work at it. The real downside, however, was that it was painful in the beginning. When his body got accustomed to it, it was fine, but only his legs were actually at that point. The rest of him was still sore the day after the Diagon Alley incident.

With two days until Hogwarts, Harry was running his now-normal path, increasing his speed at a constant rate while very slowly trying to channel his magic throughout the rest of his body and eyes. He was about to his turn around point where he was the furthest from the Burrow when he heard a popping sound in front of him. He was practicing with magic in his eyes and saw a pulse of magic in the same spot the sound had come from, then disappear, leaving a familiar green-eyed house elf in front of him.

"Harry Potter, Sir! You must not be going to Hogwarts this year!" A very nervous, and twitchy, elf stood, asking the same thing as he had nearly three months ago.

"Dobby?"

Dobby came forward with his hands pressed together in a pleading fashion. "Harry Potter must not be going to Hogwarts this year! Horrible things is going to happen, terrible things that want to hurt Harry Potter!" Dobby gave a little squeak and looked around, as if thinking he was going to be caught in the middle of nowhere with Harry.

"Dobby, I've told Dumbledore that a house elf," Dobby's face adopted a look of fright, "not _who_ though, and he said he will be sure to keep an eye out for anything that may be out of place. So it will be as safe as can be." Harry knelt in front of Dobby, so he would be down to his eye-level.

"But Harry Potter will not be safe!"

Harry didn't want to listen to the same thing over and over again. He didn't want to say it out loud, but the little elf _was_ somewhat annoying. "Dobby, I can't just go because I won't be safe. If I don't go, then my friends are in danger without me. I may be able to protect them, after all. Haven't you ever heard of safety in numbers?" Harry could see Dobby was almost considering it, but then Dobby shook his head and started up again.

"Dobby, question, is there anything, aside from not going, that would make you happy about all of this?" Dobby's eyes bugged out of his face and tears began to run down his cheeks.

"Harry Potter is indeed a great wizard for asking Dobby what Dobby would be wanting! Ha-"

"Dobby? Is there something? I mean, I am going to be taking personal defense training and such, so what would make you happy with me still going?" Dobby calmed almost immediately.

"Dobby is sorry, Harry Potter, Sir, but there is nothing else that is being making Harry Potter safe." Dobby looked around as though he were looking for something to punish himself with again.

"Dobby," Harry sighed, "I have to go. If I don't, then my friends will be in danger and I can't stop that from happening staying somewhere else. Besides, I would have nowhere to go. My relatives don't like me, and I wouldn't want to go there, and I have no other friends other than Ron and Hermione and I can't stay at their houses for a whole year." Poor Dobby was in full panic mode.

"But, Harry Potter, you can't be-"

"I'm sorry, Dobby, I really am. But I have to go." Dobby just looked at him for a moment after a little squeak and then popped away. Harry sighed and began his jogging again. He decided to write Dumbledore and Hermione a letter after he finished his calisthenics.

Harry quickly finished his running, making himself as fast as possible just to see how fast it would be, and then finished his workout, increasing his weights five more pounds each for the last time that summer. Once done, he showered, wrote his letters and then sat in the back yard to work on his occlumency until everyone was ready for breakfast.

Title: The Rise of a War Wizard

**Chapter5** – King's Cross and Classes

**Ships**: Harry/Hermione/Luna, Neville/Susan, Ginny/Hannah

xXxXxXx

Harry had completed his morning rituals and was sitting in the living room doing his occlumency training this time, rather than outside, because today was the day they were to meet everyone at King's Cross Station and then go to Hogwarts. Everyone was up and about and scrambling for their supplies, yelling back and forth to each other, asking if anyone knew where various items were.

Harry was sitting at the table with Arthur and Molly in the kitchen with about fifteen minutes left when Percy, Ginny and the twins came in, breathless, and hungry.

"Get everything all packed?" Harry couldn't help but take a shot at the twins as they sat. He only got grumbles in return as they loaded their plates and began to eat.

"Is Ron almost done?" Harry asked while taking a bite of his toast.

"Almost. He's just trying to close his trunk." Ginny answered Harry before realizing he was the one who asked the question. After she _did_ realize it, she just shrank into her chair and stayed quiet. Harry had yet to see her act like the rest of her family. Most of the times she was around, it was out of his field of vision or being as quiet as possible. As of yet, there were only a few times where she would talk to him, and that was him pulling her out of her shell and into a conversation by not leaving when she clammed up.

"Oi! Save some for me!" Ron came running into the kitchen, interrupting Harry's musings and began to attack the breakfast on the table with the gusto of a starved man.

"Ronald!" Molly admonished. "Eat with at least _some_ semblance of manners!" She turned and pulled the last of the bacon off of the stove. "We leave in ten minutes, so do hurry along." The bacon disappeared moments after setting it down, each Weasley having another bit to eat.

When everyone was ready, they took the Ford Anglia to King's Cross. When they arrived, they were running late, so they had Ron and Percy gather everyone some trolleys while the rest pulled out their things. Once everyone was ready, they ran towards the barrier between platforms nine and ten. They sent the twins through first, followed by Ron and Harry, Percy and Ginny and then Mister and Missus Weasley followed after them, leaving an invisible house elf silently upset that Harry went through before the ones who could send him to Hogwarts with other methods.

_'Dobby will have to think of another way to let Harry Potter know he is not safe at Hogwarts. Dobby can not be leaving Harry Potter in Hogwarts to get hurt.'_ Dobby would have punished himself if one of his masters hadn't called him. He popped away, ready to serve and get beaten.

When everyone was through, they hurried onto the train with barely a minute to spare. The train already began moving before they even found themselves in a compartment. Percy went to the Prefect's compartment while Ginny sat with a blonde girl that was apparently her friend. Harry and Ron checked compartments, looking for an empty one when the third one they found had Hermione sitting in it alone and reading a book up against the wall with the window. When the door opened, she looked up and smiled at the two of them.

"Hello Harry, Ron!" She closed her book, making sure to mark the page with a muggle bookmark of an orange cat that Harry thought was named 'Garfield'.

"Hello Hermione," they both said at the same time. Ron sat opposite Hermione and Harry sat in the middle of the seat with her.

"So, how were the last couple of days of your summer, Hermione?" Harry leaned back and rested with his back against the armrest next to the door.

"Not very different than the past couple of weeks," she said. "I've been trying to practice my speed and such like you said you do, but I haven't had much progress." She was beginning to get frustrated at not being able to do something. "I just don't understand why I can't do it!"

"Don't worry about it, Hermione. We can work on it this year and we will try and get you up to speed." Harry laughed at his own bad joke while Hermione just frowned at him.

"What are you guys talking about?" Ron was splayed on his own seat and looking rather comfortable, if a bit confused.

"Remember when I told you I was learning to run faster?" Harry waited for Ron's nod. "Well, the idea made Hermione curious, so she's trying it too. That was one of the reasons why I asked if you wanted to join me with all those things. By meditating for occlumency, we were able to start running faster, though I haven't been able to figure out how exactly. We're also going to do extra studying so that we are ready for anything and anyone. If you want to join us, the offer is still open." Harry could tell that certain things interested Ron, like running really fast, but he seemed even more disgusted by the idea of meditating than he had when he showed up at the Burrow in the beginning, though that could have been because Harry mentioned extra studying.

"Sorry, mate. But I remember how much of that meditating stuff you did each day and I really don't think I want to do that. Being fast would be great, and keeping people out of my head would be, too, but I can't see myself doing that nearly as often as you." Hermione huffed beside Harry.

"You don't have to do it for as long as Harry does. You could just do it for half an hour before bed and get it."

"Yea, but then it would just take a long time. Harry told me about it when he showed up. He's going to be done with his occlumency stuff a little bit after school because he spent a whole bunch of time during the day to do it." Hermione was just a little surprised he had figured that out, and it showed.

"Well, I suppose you are right. But it really is a valuable skill to have!" Ron sighed and wriggled a little bit to make himself more comfortable.

"I guess. I just don't think I'd be the type for it." Hermione huffed again, obviously upset that he didn't see what an opportunity he was getting. Occlumency wasn't even a topic taught at Hogwarts. She decided to give up and turn her attention back to Harry.

"So, you'll work with me on trying to get faster?" Harry smiled as she spoke, adding to her anxiety just a bit.

"Of course I will. I still plan on getting up early for my jogging and we can do it then, if you want. When do you normally get up?"

"Well, I normally get up about six or seven. But with school, I'll need to get up earlier than that. When do you get up?"

"Generally, about four to five, depending on how tired I was. I'll be the lucky one in this case, since that's when we'll need to get up to make classes like normal." Harry ignored Ron shaking his head and mumbling 'mental' after hearing about how early he got up. Hermione looked to be thinking before nodding resolutely, as though confirming something.

"That sounds good. Once we get our schedules, we can make sure." With that, she turned to her book and began to read it again. Harry shook his head and pulled out Flitwick's book to go over it again. He wanted to make sure he had at least the first five chapters memorized. He wasn't sure how often, or when, his meetings with Flitwick would be, but he didn't want to disappoint him. After an hour, and two chapters, Ron talked Harry into a game of exploding snap.

Four games of exploding snap and a visit from the Snack Lady, Harry conceded defeat to Ron and begged off to finish the next three chapters before they got to Hogwarts. While he was reading the fourth chapter, the door opened and the twins popped in.

"Hey, Harry! We were won-" Fred suddenly stopped and grew very quiet. George, who was smiling and standing right beside him looked at him curiously and then followed his gaze to their sleeping brother, who was only offering brief bursts of snoring when the train jarred a little. Suddenly, fiendish grins spread across their faces as their hands disappeared into their pockets, pulling out a small piece of candy, wrapped in green and silver foil.

"Well, we were planning-"

"On letting the Slytherins test these out-"

"But an opportunity such as this-"

"Just begs to be exploited!" They stalked over to Ron and began to place the candies into random pockets to be found later.

"What are you two doing?" Hermione watched them with a critical eye as they seemed to give him candy while he slept. The two looked at her with an expression of pure innocence, one that had to be practiced to be that good.

"Why, we're just giving our dear brother-"

"Some candy for when he gets hungry-"

"Since he always seems to be." She may not have spoken to them much the year before, but she was certainly told enough by both other students and Ron himself when he complained about them. That was their pranking face.

"So what are those going to do to him?" They looked at each other and then to Hermione with a grin.

"Wait and see-"

"Dear, Hermione." With that, they left before she had a chance to say anything else on the subject. She took a few moments with her thinking face and then asked, "Do you think we should tell him they put candy into his pockets?" Harry looked at Ron and then Hermione.

"Probably, but I'm actually curious about what they'll do." She seemed to think about it for a few moments before shaking her head.

"We should tell him and, if he remembers, then great, if not, then you can watch. How's that?" Harry smiled and chuckled.

"Why, my dear Hermione, I do believe we've been a bad influence on you!" Hermione blushed a little and looked down.

"Well, telling him is the right thing to do," she looked up and him quickly and then back down, "but I'd like to see what happens also." Harry laughed as quietly as he could so as not to wake up Ron.

"Yea, maybe we can use them on Draco!"

Hermione offered what was supposed to be a discouraging frown that was ruined by the smile coming from the corner of her mouth. "That would be against the rules!" They both laughed quietly and continued to read for several minutes before Hermione asked one last question.

"How do you put up with that snoring?"

xXxXxXx

They pulled into the station in Hogsmeade, already wearing their robes. They woke Ron up a few minutes before arrival and, aside from bed head, he was mostly lucid for the trip getting into the carriages where they shared with Neville, who'd apparently forgiven Hermione for petrifying him last year.

They arrived in the Great Hall without incident and waited for the first years to arrive and the sorting to begin. Ron was particularly curious about where Ginny would be placed.

"I'm just saying, she's a sneaky one! Mum would be _furious_ if she wound up in Slytherin!" Ron was waving his arms around and making a scene, forcing Hermione to hang her head in her hands.

"Ronald! She will not end up in Slytherin!"

Fred, who'd overheard what they were saying, developed a rather wonderful idea. "Oi, Ron. We know she won't end up there, but what do you think about sending Mum a letter saying that she ended up there, though?" Ron's expression grew vacant, and then the notorious Weasley expression came out, letting Harry and Hermione know something was afoot.

"I like it! I'll send a letter as soon as the feast is over!" He rubbed his hands together in the typical evil fashion. Fred, and now George, who'd caught on, were simply glad that it was so easy to talk him into writing the letter, keeping them from getting the brunt of their mother's anger when she found out the truth. They knew they would have to make sure he worded it properly, though.

They quieted down as the first years entered the Great Hall and watched as they were all sorted. Ginny wound up being in Gryffindor, just as all of the rest, and the blonde girl Harry saw her sit next to on the train, Luna Lovegood, wound up in Ravenclaw. Aside from that, he had no clue who the rest of the kids were, though one boy seemed a bit set in photographing things as he walked up, even taking a picture of the sorting hat before putting it on his head.

Dumbledore stood after the last of the students seated themselves and made a few quick announcements. "Welcome students, new and old, to another wonderful year at Hogwarts. I have only a few announcements and then we can enjoy the wonderful feasts Hogwarts provides." Ron, at this point, was nearly bouncing in his seat in anticipation.

"Firstly, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart," he paused temporarily to allow the applause, mostly from the female populace of the school, to subside as Lockhart stood and bowed to the students.

"Also, Mr. Filch has asked me to announce that magic within the halls is prohibited and there is a full list of contraband items on his office door, now totaling nearly three hundred and seventy-six items, I believe." He went on to describe the house point system and his usual comment of the Forbidden Forest still being forbidden, hence it's name.

After the sorting and announcements were over, the food appeared, and everyone began to eat until they nearly burst.

"Oh man, that was good." Ron sighed and leaned back on the bench. He'd eaten as much as Harry and Hermione both, and was very happy. The loopy smile and crossed eyes said as much. Harry nodded and smiled at Ron.

"Yea, it always is." Hermione sighed and shook her head.

"Boys."

"Hey, we're growing up here. We need the nourishment," Ron defended himself.

"There is still such a thing as too much, Ronald." Against her own words, she took another bite of the butter roll on her plate. _'I'm going to have to do a lot of running to make up for all of this.'_

Ron simply snorted into his pumpkin juice as he finished it off.

It was several minutes later when Dumbledore stood and announced that the welcoming feast was over and had the fifth year prefects escort the students to their dormitories. Almost immediately, everyone ended up in their beds, ready for a good night's rest after stuffing themselves silly. The only exception to that was Harry and Hermione who first made sure they would wake up at the same time for their daily exercise before going to bed.

xXxXxXx

The next morning, Harry's wand began to vibrate heavily on his bedside table, rousing him from his sleep. It was a handy spell they were taught the year before since it didn't require casting, just holding the wand and telling it when to go off. The bell tower reached all ends of the school, but wasn't always enough to wake the students. He grabbed his wand and then some exercise clothes from his trunk. Once dressed, he went downstairs into the common room to wait for Hermione, who showed up seven minutes later.

"Good morning, Harry," she said, wiping at her eyes and yawning. Harry smiled at her and returned the greeting.

"G'morning, Hermione. Ready for a jog?" She let out a something between a whimper and a grunt and started walking towards the door. Once outside, they stretched a few minutes and then ran around with Harry talking about his new method of running and advising Hermione on what exactly he does to channel his magic, including how he did it at Flourish and Blotts to increase his strength. After roughly twenty minutes of constant encouragement, she began to speed up in spurts of speed, only to slow down once again, and after nearly half an hour, she learned to do it constantly, albeit only very slightly. It was after that half hour that they decided they'd had enough as Hermione hadn't been running nearly as much as Harry had been.

"Am I always going to feel so sore?" Hermione was rubbing her legs after having taken a seat when they stopped.

"No. Well, sort of." He realized he needed to clarify when she shot him a glare. "Well, you see, when I use just a little, I don't have any pain now, but if I use more, I will feel it more. My body adapted to it, I guess. The more I use, the more it hurts, but after I get over the pain, I can do it even more later and use up to what I've already done without pain." Hermione seemed to think about it for a few moments before speaking.

"So, its kind of like building muscle mass. You have to exercise it to make it stronger?" Harry thought for a second before nodding his head slowly.

"That sounds about right. I hadn't thought about it much, but that seems to be spot on." Hermione smiled as she figured it out.

"Well, how long until the pain goes away?" Harry seemed to think before actually answering.

"I don't know, exactly. For an example, say that I keep going up in power by fives. After five, I went to ten. At ten, instead of increasing the amount by another five, I increased my weights again, and the pain was a little more. Not much, but just a little. I always increase my weights by five pounds, so that is why I used that as the example. I try to advance the amount of magic I use to speed up by the same amount of pain as what I feel when I advance my weights." Hermione seemed confused as she spoke.

"Harry, what do you mean 'each time' you've increased you weights? Exactly how many times have you raised them? How much do you have on?"

"Um, I started at ten on each hand and twenty on each leg," he paused to think. "I can remember increasing them four times, so thirty on each hand and forty on my legs."

"Four!" Hermione was nearly incredulous. "Harry, you shouldn't be able to wear that much and walk around comfortably! That would explain why your arms seem to hang a little at your sides, though." Harry just shrugged at her.

"Well, it got really easy," he said calmly. "Maybe it is like you said about increasing muscle mass. Maybe that is what it is actually doing, making me stronger, faster." Hermione seemed to be thinking.

"Harry, we should ask Dumbledore and probably Madam Pomfrey about this. I don't think that is normal. I think its supposed to take longer than that to increase in strength like that. I was wondering why you seemed to move with jerky motions and kept your arms low while you were jogging. I mean, you're wearing an additional one hundred and forty pounds. That isn't normal." Harry was a little surprised by the total, as he hadn't actually thought about it until then, but decided it didn't really matter.

"Yea, I increased the weight three days ago and wasn't actually used to it yet. I think it has to be constantly hard to move for it to work or something like that." Hermione still looked a little unconvinced.

"I think you should ask Madam Pomfrey about it and see. I only have ten pounds on each of my wrists and ankles." Harry nodded as they began to walk back to their dorms for showers.

"I'll do it during free period, then. I'm pretty sure we have one this year as a standard."

"I think so, we did last year and don't get any additional classes until next year."

"I've still got some calisthenics to do, and then a shower, but I think I'll be down to breakfast fast enough to get my schedule and find out."

"You do other exercises also?" Hermione was surprised by that since he hadn't mentioned it before.

"Yea, push-ups, sit-ups, some balancing things for Quidditch and I'll increase the weight of each arm by itself and do some simple exercises with that before putting them back to normal. I couldn't remember any others from primary school." Hermione shook her head slightly.

"Harry, please try to take it slower. I don't think you're supposed to wear that much weight. But I suppose you can go by whatever Madam Pomfrey says."

"That's my plan." They walked in silence for a few minutes before Hermione thought of another question.

"How much occlumency are you practicing each day?"

"Not much, actually. At least today. I am going to do it about an hour before bed, and whenever I get a few minutes, but I want to figure out my schedule before I commit to doing it at any particular time."

"Good plan," she commented, earning a snort of laughter from Harry.

"Thanks." His smile let her know he was amused by the comment, so she didn't get upset at the noise. It was still dark when they got to their common room, but it was obvious the day was about to break. There was a brightening in the sky to the east that let them know students would begin to wake in about another hour.

The two split up and went to their own rooms, Hermione to take a long shower and Harry to finish the last of his exercises and then a shower. When Harry was finished with both, he went downstairs, with only two other Gryffindors awake at all, one of which was still Hermione, the other one was Lavender, who she'd accidentally awakened and was very grumpy because of it.

Harry saw that Hermione was sitting on the couch, doing her occlumency training and decided to sit next to her and follow suit. They were both doing so until several other students found their way into the common room and made more noise than was comfortable to occlude their minds to. Once Harry was done, he waited until Hermione seemed to have had too much of it as well before she sighed and opened her eyes, surprised to see Harry's green ones looking at her amusedly.

"Ready?" She nodded and Harry went up to check on Ron, finding him still asleep, along with the others. Deciding it would take too long to wait for him, he went back and to breakfast with Hermione after waking them up.

When they arrived in the Great Hall, they didn't see McGonagall, so they ate and talked until she came in with schedules for the day. It was twenty minutes when she came in carrying a box with several cards, arranged alphabetically. As soon as she came in, both Hermione and Harry got up and went to her.

"Professor, we were wondering if we could get our schedules now, rather than wait for you to pass them out. We'd like to go to Madam Pomfrey and ask her some questions about Harry's exercise regimen." A raised eyebrow in the beginning, which stayed the course of Hermione's question, was all they got in response until she was finished.

"I suppose so, Miss Granger. There are, after all, no restrictions on when you get them." She took only a few seconds to pull out both, which were identical to the rest of the second year Gryffindors, aside from Harry's, which had an additional class every Monday, Wednesday and Friday with Flitwick for 'Advanced Defense and Dueling'. Though she already knew it was coming, Hermione was a little jealous, but happily remembered Harry said he'd show her anything of interest and keep her updated with what he was being taught.

"Thank you, Professor," they both said together. With that, they went to the hospital wing since they still had twenty minutes until their first class, which happened to be McGonagall's. When they arrived, Madam Pomfrey, who was walking from the windows to her office, sighed and spoke.

"Honestly, Mister Potter. It is only the first day! What on earth could you have done already?" Harry smiled sheepishly while Hermione stayed in professional mode.

"Madam Pomfrey, we actually had a few questions for you. No illnesses or anything," she looked at Harry and he finished with a mumbled, "this time," which was heard by both of the others. Madam Pomfrey smiled, enjoying the change of pace.

"Oh? And what were those?" Harry started out, since he'd almost memorized the introduction by that point.

"Well, at the beginning of the summer, I started jogging and doing some exercises to get into better shape," Pomfrey nodded at that, following so far, "but the thing is, I started doing something different than normal." He began to explain his idea for running and channeling magic, but left out where the idea came from, and then explained the weights Flitwick had designed and crafted for he and Hermione. Hermione then took up the conversation they had that morning, catching that he didn't mention the manga, and her resulting worries. Madam Pomfrey, for her part, listened mostly with raised eyebrows.

"That's quite an advancement in such a short amount of time. Thank you, Miss Granger, for talking him into coming. It very well could be something serious, as it certainly isn't normal. Now, let's take a look at you, please lie down on the bed." Harry did as ordered and found the medi-witch casting several diagnostic spells over him. When she was done, she leaned back and thought with an inquisitive expression.

"Madam Pomfrey?" Hermione didn't really like that the woman just sat back and didn't say anything. She came back with a start though.

"Hm? Oh! Yes, sorry. It is really most curious. You haven't done any damage or harmed yourself, but your muscles have the normal wear and tear as though you did nothing but exercise all day long. I would recommend taking at least two days a week, back to back, to recover. You may run as normal, but do not use magic to aid yourself those days. The curious thing, however, is that your magical pathways are a slight bit larger than when you visited at the end of last year."

"Isn't that a good thing? Wouldn't that mean I can use more magic?" Harry associated magical pathways to chakra pathways like in the comic he'd read. In that, the larger the pathways, the more magic you could use at a time, meaning the stronger your techniques; spells in his case.

"Well, yes, but such an increase usually takes more time, even as slight as it was. Your magical pathways grew as they would perhaps in a year or so. I would hazard a guess that that is what is causing you such pain. The way you mentioned only increasing your magical output while running a little at a time means you are doing it safely, but it also means that those pathways in your legs are larger than those in the rest of your body, except your arms and head. Those have increased as well, it seems. Just nowhere near as much. This means that your magic may not flow through you properly. There will be times that you will find yourself with boosts of magic and times when it will be weaker. Not drastically, of course, but slight. If you stop working on only certain areas of your body, you probably wouldn't even notice the fluctuations." Pomfrey was thinking of a way of mentioning this to Dumbledore. He'd asked her to bring anything out of the ordinary with Potter to his attention, even if it was something slight or insignificant. This was certainly more than that. She just had to remember not to mention any kind of restrictions, unless absolutely necessary, as he'd asked as well.

"So, when I run, channel the magic through my whole body instead of just my legs?" Harry asked. Pomfrey nodded.

"Yes, that should make sure you maintain a steady magical flow throughout your body. Now, if you feel like increasing your training to make them grow even faster, remember that you could damage them by pushing too much through them and rupturing them." She grabbed his arm and lifted, surprised that she could lift it without a problem.

"I thought you said you were wearing weights. I lifted your arm with no problems."

"I lifted it with you." To prove his point, he relaxed his arm, and she dropped it from the weight.

"Oh." Though not very heavy, it was more than she was prepared to simply lift without any warning.

"All the same then, I highly suggest you do not increase your weights for some time. It isn't that you are increasing your strength to lift them properly, it is that you are beginning to use your magic to make it easier as you go. Though this is good for your control, it is also what is causing your muscles to overwork themselves." She mentally smiled at his grimace and Hermione's scowl that was, thankfully, directed at him. It wasn't at all impressive for a woman of her age and experience, but it would certainly help keep the boy in line.

"I can do that. Should I make them less?" Pomfrey thought a moment before shaking her head.

"You already have them where they are. Just allow yourself to get used to them. No increasing them for at least a month. After that, we can talk." They both nodded, though it seemed as though Hermione was nodding her head more to say she wouldn't let him disobey the doctor's orders. "Your muscles are growing much more quickly than average because of this particular regimen, but they aren't getting time to heal properly. Just do as I said and you should be fine."

"Alright, but another question before we go, if I may?" Harry waited for her nod before he continued. "Well, I was wondering if you would be willing to teach a voluntary class for basic first aid. I seem to get cuts and bruises and the like all the time and figured that, if I could heal the simple ones on my own, then I can try to keep our visits more like this one, rather than as an actual patient." Hermione raised an eyebrow at that question.

"When did you think of this?" Harry looked at her with an embarrassed smile.

"Just now. I only want to learn to heal basic cuts and such so I don't have to visit Madam Pomfrey unless its a serious thing, or more than I can actually heal." An eyebrow still raised, Hermione let it go and looked at Pomfrey who looked to be deep in thought.

"Well, healing is covered lightly in some of your upper years, but basic healing spells could actually be taught to third years and above. The two of you, I hear, excel in practical forms of your magics, and I can certainly teach them to you using a training dummy, rather than someone squirming around. I will ask the Headmaster and see what he thinks, but if I can, it will probably only be for upper classmen. We will see. For now, I suggest you take this note to your next class, explaining I held you longer than anticipated for a full explanation of your questions." Hermione looked at the clock over the window and let out a loud squeak.

"We're late, Harry!" She began going to the door but stopped and turned when she heard Madam Pomfrey talking to Harry. "Harry!"

"Just getting the note so we don't get into trouble, Hermione." After getting the note, they both left the hospital wing, Hermione at a slightly quicker pace than Harry, and began going to the Transfiguration classroom.

"Come _on_, Harry!" Harry looked at her with a blank expression for a moment until Hermione frowned at him. "What?"

"Want to try running without the weights and boosting our speed?" Hermione stopped dead in her tracks and stared at him, mouth hanging open. A second later she smacked her forehead.

"Of course! Let's go!"

"Kai!"

"Kai!" With that, they both left, running very quickly. Harry wasn't really putting much magic into his strides so he could keep up with Hermione, but still relished in the feeling of moving so quickly without his arms and legs being held down by gravity. They arrived in quick time and stopped outside the door, only two minutes late. Harry had to admit, the speed boost wasn't much, but it was certainly nice.

"You chose the same deactivation word?" Harry asked her before they opened the door.

"Well, you made a valid point as to why it should be that particular word and I had been reading that manga the same as you. I told Dumbledore the same time you did."

"Oh." They opened the door and Hermione found an empty table for herself and Harry since everyone else had their partners already while Harry handed the note to McGonagall, who read the note with her normal stern features and then started the lesson. She hadn't wanted to make a big deal of the two of them not having shown up yet, since she knew they would be there shortly, so she spent the first couple of minutes with a long-winded welcome back speech. Meanwhile, Pomfrey scripted a letter to Dumbledore and had a house elf deliver it so she didn't have to leave her post in the hospital wing.

_Albus,_

_Harry Potter and Hermione Granger just left my hospital wing, nothing was wrong with them and they are still fine, but I feel you were withholding some information from me._

_Mister Potter, it seems, has been busy this summer and came to me, at Miss Granger's prompting, thankfully, for some advice. I would rather explain things to you in person, so do come at your convenience and we can discuss what they have told me._

_Poppy_

Dumbledore, having nothing better to do at the current time aside from watch his dark item detector, which still showed nothing beyond normal, decided to go and speak with the kindly medi-witch while the meeting was still fresh in her mind. He took a hidden passageway to make up good time and arrived in a mere three minutes.

"Ah, Poppy. Its good to see you this fine day." Pomfrey was silently curious about Dumbledore's immediate arrival, but put it aside for another time.

"Likewise, Albus. I suppose you'd like to get directly to the matter?" Dumbledore chuckled at the her directness.

"If we could, indeed. You know of the warning Harry received, and I would like to keep an eye on him this year. That includes knowing what he is up to so that I can be sure he doesn't endanger himself looking for whatever it is that may be approaching." She nodded and motioned for him to take a seat in her office.

"Well, do you know about his exercising routine for the summer?"

"I peeked in on a few occasions, yes. He was quite dedicated, and faster than he'd led me to believe." She nodded some more as he spoke.

"As well he should be. Those weights you had Filius create for them? Well, he's currently wearing thirty pounds on each wrist and forty on each ankle." Widened eyes were his only indication that he was surprised.

"Not only that, but he discussed the advancement of them with Miss Granger this morning while they ran together. She wanted him to come and have me give him a quick check up and, I tell you, Albus, it was amazing! He'd advanced his magical pathways to as large as an adult's already! Last year, after all of the trouble with You-Know-Who and that blasted stone, his pathways were as large as an average fourth or fifth year student, but they are about as large as someone in their mid-twenties right now! His muscles are worn out from walking around with those weights, but he doesn't realize it because he's been subconsciously channeling his magic through his arms and legs to make up for the lack of strength! So he's been thinking he's been getting stronger in regards to muscle, while he's been fine-tuning his magical control, without even realizing it!" At this point, she raised her hands into the air in exasperation.

"He didn't tell me about learning about the concepts from that muggle comic book you told me about, but, whatever it was, I would suggest getting him more of them."

"Poppy, did you explain that he shouldn't increase his pathways by brute force like that?" Albus was worried Harry would burn himself out and not be able to use magic again if he destroyed his magical pathways. It was common during power rituals where there was a sudden increase in ability, and Harry had a destiny to fulfill.

"No, actually." As he frowned, Pomfrey decided to elaborate. "He explained it like this: While he was increasing the amount of power through his pathways, he would feel some pain. He used that pain as a gauge of sorts. He is keeping it minimal, and only increasing the power as the pain lessens. I _did_ explain that, if he put too much power, he could burst the pathways, but I did not tell him to stop. I honestly doubt he would if I told him to. Granger may try to force him, but she couldn't stop him if he chose to ignore her. You know how children, especially boys, tend to think power is everything." Dumbledore chuckled as Pomfrey sipped at her tea.

"I do, indeed. I do, however, feel that he would heed Miss Granger's warnings, should she offer them. You know how much he hates hospitals, and yet, at her request, there they were today." Pomfrey smiled wistfully as she fell into a memory.

"Just like his father. Lily could get that boy to do anything."

"Indeed. It seems that knowing when to follow orders from an intelligent witch runs in the family." Pomfrey smiled brightly.

"Or they get hexed for not doing so, either way, they end up here." Both laughed as they recalled the same incident where James Potter had inadvertently cast a permanent sticking charm instead of the modified one with a password on house-mate's under garments in seventh year, was seen doing so, and then tricked into wearing them himself. It was two days before he wound up in the hospital wing, and that was only because Lily cast an illusionary spell to make him think he was always thirsty during the first day. That much pumpkin juice would catch up to anyone.

"So, do you feel Harry is endangering himself in any way by going the path he is currently on?" Dumbledore watched as Pomfrey appeared to think deeply before shaking her head.

"No. So long as he stops increasing his weights, which I told him to do for at least a month, he should be fine. Using magic, he is taking some of the trouble from his arms with the weights, so they will heal within a week or so. They weren't overly damaged, just a bit worn or tired. So I believe he will be fine as long as he follows orders, and Granger looked like she won't let him fail to do just that." Pomfrey smirked as she remembered Hermione's scowl.

"What I am curious about, though, is how he is doing it. There have been thousands of witches and wizards who've tried to do similar things, especially when running away from an enemy of some sort." Dumbledore sighed, just realizing that he'd missed an opportunity to listen to Harry explain to Hermione that morning.

"I am unsure as well. Perhaps I will ask him and see. Or if you speak to him first, then you could probably ask. I doubt he would feel like keeping it secret." Dumbledore cocked his head to the side a few moments before continuing. "I would like you to check his pathways each time he visits, and perhaps keep a record. I am rather curious to see how much they grow." Pomfrey nodded as he spoke.

"I can do that. I'm rather curious about it myself. He can use more of his own magical power now, which means every one of his spells will be stronger, and with those weights he's wearing, his control is staying relatively decent as well. Its just how much he puts into spells that will be a problem now. What I don't understand is where this extra power is coming from. His reserves were almost completely full, which means he isn't exhausting himself. Even while he was using his magic to maintain his arms with the weight, they would lessen and refill faster than normal. I'd never noticed his reserve filling so quickly while being drained since he'd never used magic when I tested him, so I plan on gauging that later as well."

"Very well. Let us keep our eyes open and remember, please, to let me know if anyone comes in with an abnormal ailment."

"Of course, Albus." After exchanging goodbye's, the two parted company. Pomfrey went back to her office while Dumbledore took the scenic route to his office before sitting vigil over his dark item detectors.

xXxXxXx

McGonagall had originally planned on using the first two days of classes to review the previous year's syllabus by having everyone practice the practical side of the spells. However, after hearing Dumbledore talk about Harry's homework, she decided to let them read the first chapter of their books, claiming it would give them a head start on the whole year with the knowledge, while she discreetly looked for Harry's parchmentwork that everyone had handed in.

He began his essay very similar to his previous ones, only he seemed to mention several times throughout the work that bits of it was purely speculation considering he wasn't allowed to practice magic at home. He wrote the assigned work very well, and did, as Dumbledore had claimed, spread into the differences of altering living matter, such as plants and beetles from first year, into non-living material, such as the buttons she'd had them make from the beetles and then non-living back into living, the buttons back into beetles and buttons into plant life. McGonagall remembered him transfiguring things that entire class period. Once he figured the spell out, his buttons were clearly the best in the class, as with much of his other work, but it seemed to take him quite a bit of time.

Continuing, she read as Harry discussed his theories of the benefits and downsides of transfiguring liquid and solid material from one to another, which he explained in regards to the assignment of transfiguring animals into teacups, which she remembered telling her classes about the previous year for this one. He even went into questioning what happens to the conscious mind when transfigured into a non-sentient creation. After reading it through, she decided she would try and talk him into trying to continue his work after figuring out why he'd branched off so far to begin with.

Out of curiousity, she read Hermione's essay, and found that, though it was exceptionally written like always, it didn't branch into nearly the same concepts or the ideas and topics covered by Harry's, letting her know that he truly did write it on his own. After writing her views and notes at various parts of their work, she took them to the side and read through several others, managing to get done with about half of them, as many of the students continued to try and get two feet of parchmentwork by writing in large print. She recorded the grades as she went, and, once the class period was at it's halfway point, she started her reviews as she had originally planned, going over the review with a mental note to think up some kind of a semester-long group project that she could do where she could assign Harry and Hermione together to see what they could come up with. Knowing that Harry had that kind of ability for essays, she was going to try and make up a good reason for trying to bring that out again.

It was after Transfiguration that everyone went to Herbology. The class was standing outside the greenhouses, waiting for Professor Sprout who showed up, looking very stressed, with a smiling Lockhart right behind her.

"Really, my dear Madam Sprout! I can teach your students the magic of plants in ways they've never even _dreamed_ of!" Lockhart was circling around Sprout like a vulture, trying to mention his books several times, making the poor woman walk faster to get to the students, and it appeared she had had enough.

"Students! Greenhouse seven!" Several students gasped at the demand. As the numbers went up for the greenhouses, so too, did the potential for danger. Right now, seven was full of immature mandrakes. Each of the students filed in, following their harrowed teacher while Lockhart set his sights on Harry, grabbing him by the shoulder.

"Miss Sprout, since you obviously don't need me for these simple plants," from his time in Hogwarts, even Lockhart knew he didn't want to go into the greenhouse, "I would like to take young Harry here for a quick chat. You don't mind do you? Great!" Not even giving her a chance to respond, and completely ignoring her look of loathing, he pulled a reluctant Harry off to the side, outside of the greenhouse.

"Is there something I can help you with, Professor?" Harry wasn't totally sure what Lockhart could want with him. He certainly hadn't done anything as of yet to risk getting in trouble.

"No, dear boy, not at all. I just wanted to make sure everything was going well for you?" Harry, again, had a feeling that the smile on his face was reminiscent of his uncle Vernon's when important company was over.

"Everything is fine, Sir. Its only the first day of classes, after all." Lockhart nodded and made agreeing sounds.

"Yes, well, if you have any difficulties or troubles, feel free to come to me for anything. I'm a very powerful wizard and have many powerful friends who can help out if you find yourself in a bad situation. Also, I know the media, Harry, and I can help you control your fame and help you with the right publicity." Harry felt he had a good idea of what Lockhart was about now.

"I don't have any plans of doing anything to get into trouble and I'm not in any now, so I don't see a problem, but thanks for the offer of help. I also don't care much for my fame, so I don't really want any kind of publicity."

"Right then, well, you know who to come to if needed. You should be getting back to class now, we don't want to take up more time." Harry simply nodded and walked inside where class was just beginning. Everyone had gathered around the mandrakes, ready to re-pot them.

"Now," Madam Sprout began, "who can tell me the properties of the mandrake?" Only a few hands raised, Harry's and Hermione's among them. "Yes, Miss Granger."

"The mandrake, or Mandragora, has a voice that can kill when one hears an adult specimen. Also, it's body can be used to cure petrification and certain paralysis ailments." Madam Sprout smiled and clapped her hands gleefully.

"Wonderful, Miss Granger! Five points to Gryffindor! Now, as these are infant mandrakes, their cry won't kill, but it is still unpleasant, so earmuffs on!" The class followed her example, hoping to not have to worry about the unfortunate side affects of not doing so.

"Now, to re-pot this mandrakes, you grasp them firmly from the top here and pull straight up!" She did as she was telling them, getting a constant cry from her mandrake, who didn't like to be out in the cold air. Each of the students followed suit, while Sprout continued her explanation, not realizing that they barely heard her voice over the cry of all of the upset plants. Draco, thinking it reminded him of an infant, wiggled his finger in front of it, only for the chubby plant to bite down firmly.

A few seconds later, many in the class saw as Neville Longbottom seemed to sway on his feet, his head rolled a little and he fell to the ground.

"Oh dear," Sprout groused, "it appears Longbottom didn't put his muffs on quite tightly enough." Dean, the boy standing next to him looked up to his teacher with wide eyes.

"No, Ma'am. He's just feinted." Madam Sprout raised an eyebrow before responding.

"Yes, well. May as well leave him there, then. Now, as I was saying." The rest of the class continued, with Neville being awakened as everyone left, on their way to wash up and then head to lunch. Ron, Harry and Hermione were discussing why Lockhart held him before class and their classes to the day at that point.

"Well, I think its great that he's willing to offer you help whenever you need it. He _is_ a powerful wizard, after all." Harry frowned as he thought about the man and Hermione continued to sing his praises..

"I don't know. He reminds me a lot of my uncle Vernon when he'd pretend to be nice." Hermione frowned at Harry, making him feel a little ashamed at the thought.

"Harry, Dumbledore wouldn't have hired him if he weren't as good as his books make him out to be. If you read the books, you would be able to see that he's done a lot of wonderful things."

"I _have_ read his books. But I don't know about them. They give a lot of information except, it is kind of ... weak ... when talking about exactly how he did those things. Most of it was information on him, the people he talked with and saying what he did, but not how he did it." Hermione sighed.

"Not all books have to have a lot of action in them, Harry. Why do boys all need violence and action and such in whatever they read?"

"That's what makes a book interesting!" Ron didn't really care much about the new Defense teacher. He seemed flashy, but all great wizards seemed to have some kind of quirk. Dumbledore had his outlandish outfits and penchant for sweets, Lockhart had his own outlandish outfits and love of all things frilly, or girly as far as he was concerned. The three of them decided not to discuss the topic anymore and found themselves in the Great Hall for lunch. They had spoken about trivial things when an owl flew into the room and landed right in front of Ron, dropping a dark red envelop in front of him.

"What's that?" Harry hadn't seen mail like that delivered yet.

"I know what that is!" Dean was looking at the letter with a morbid fascination. "Its a howler!"

"Go ahead and open it, Ron!" Seamus was thrilled with the idea of seeing one of his peers get yelled at by a large red paper.

"I got one from my Gram once," Neville gazed off as he recalled the event, looking much like a war veteran recalling a bloody battle, "it was horrible." Ron gulped and opened the letter. Almost as soon as he began to open the seal, it flew up into the air and opened up to look much like a large mouth with pointy paper teeth.

"**Ronald Bilius Weasley! How could you! We received your letter saying Ginny was in Slytherin, **_**Slytherin**_**, of all places, and you think you're going to get away with that! Your father and I were worried sick until we got her letter this morning! Just wait until you get back for summer break! You'll be grounded for a month!"** The letter rushed towards Ron's face for a moment while blowing a raspberry, making him flinch. After that, it seemed to bite into itself and shred apart, leaving a group of wide-eyed students surrounding the confetti-like remains.

"Wicked," both Seamus and Dean exclaimed. It was just as entertaining as they were hoping. Hermione sighed and began eating while Harry smiled, enjoying the look of shock still plastered on Ron's face. He really did try, but a small snort of laughter still escaped his lips, effectively bringing Ron out of his stupor.

Fred and George high-fived each other on a prank well played.

"Oi, Harry! It isn't funny!" Neither boy noticed a first year a few spaces down lift his head quickly at hearing Harry's name.

"You have to admit, it was a _little_ funny." Ron grimaced while the boy that was sitting down a few spaces came up behind Ron, holding a camera in his hands.

"Hello! My name's Colin! Colin Creevey! You're Harry Potter, right?" Ron could tell immediately what this was, and was pleased, in a slightly sadistic way, that Harry would get what was coming to him.

"Er, yes. Can I help you?" The boy grinned widely and lifted his camera, quickly taking a picture of Harry, leaving him slightly blind from the flash.

"I'd like a few pictures, to send to my parents! You know, just to prove that I'm in the same school as Harry Potter!" The boy was speaking frighteningly fast and seemed to be on the edge of hyperventilating. Ron's smile grew wider while Hermione tried to hide her own smile behind her hand.

"Er, well, I guess you got one." As soon as the words left Harry's mouth, the boy made a strange, and slightly creepy, grunt-like laugh. A second later, he turned on his heel and went back to his seat, leaving an amused Hermione, scared Harry and happier Ron. "Well. That was a little scary." Ron gave a snort of laughter while Hermione had the grace to hide her own laugh behind her hand.

"Looks like you've got a fan, Harry," Ron began. "Maybe he'll ask you out!" While Ron laughed, Hermione rolled her eyes and Harry choked on his biscuit.

xXxXxXx

The trio found themselves walking into the Defense Against the Dark Arts room to find the windows wide open and there were probably fifty smiling pictures of their new defense teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Bloody hell," Ron whispered. "This guy is more full of himself than Malfoy!"

"I'll agree to that..." Harry felt almost sick that the man would want that many pictures looking at him all day long and smiling that creepy and insincere smile.

"Ronald! He is only proud of his accomplishments! _Do_ try and show some respect!" Hermione's harsh reprimand made both boys feel sorry that they'd allowed her to hear them. They merely looked at each other and rolled their eyes as they and the rest of the class sat at their tables, waiting for Lockhart to show up. A few minutes later, he did so.

"Good evening my youthful students!" Lockhart greeted them all as he stepped out of his office in a shiny cream-colored robe and another one of those creepy smiles. As he stepped down the stairs from his office to the main level of the classroom, he continued talking. "I am your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart. Winner of Witch Weekly's most charming smile award, five times running," he offered a large smile and a short laugh while several of the girls in the room swooned, making Harry narrow his eyes in disgust while Ron pretended to gag, "defeater of a monstrous yeti and winner of a Merlin, third class." He spread his arms in a wide welcoming gesture. "But we aren't here to discuss my accomplishments," He once again smiled as the girls swooned, which was really beginning to creep some of the guys out.

"Today class, you will be taking a short pop quiz," he ignored the many moans coming from the students, "to determine how well you read my books!" He smiled genially at them. "To the highest scoring student, I shall allow you to choose your partner for a particular project that you will be doing this year!"

Many in the class looked at Hermione, causing even Lockhart to notice the peculiar-looking girl who seemed a little embarrassed as she realized everyone was now looking at her. _'Must be one of those kiss-ups who try to wheedle their way into stature such as mine.'_ He pushed his thoughts out of his head as he realized the class started to pay attention to him almost immediately again. Smiling, he passed out the tests.


	7. Minerva's Advice

**Title**: Minerva's Advice

**Chapter**: One-Shot

**Ship**: Harry/Hermione, Mention of possible Ron/Hermione

**Rating**: T

**Warnings**: Adult Language, Adult Situations, Minor Ron Bashing

**Time Line**: Sixth Year, November

**Summary**: McGonagall knows she has failed her Lions repeatedly. But there is one mistake she can never, under any circumstances, allow to happen. H/Hr

**[Author's Note:]** Hidy hidy! I was reading an older story by Broomstick Flyer when the idea for this kind of scene popped into my head. Nothing planned for this except to say that this is an attempt at writing McGonagall trying to pay off a debt of honor to Harry for not helping him at all through his years in Hogwarts.

**Recommended Story of the Chapter**: "Seventh Year" by Broomstick Flyer

xXxXxXx

"As you command, Miss Kitty," the house elf bowed low and popped away, leaving Minerva to stare out her classroom window with a large mug of steaming hot cocoa in her hands. The day outside was gray and cloudy and oddly dry for the time of year. It put Minerva into a state of bleak bleariness that had put her into a reflective mood, forcing her to look back on the last five and a half years.

She held several jobs at Hogwarts. She was a teacher to seven years of Transfiguration classes, Deputy Headmistress of the entire school and Head of Gryffindor House, being a den mother of sorts. As a teacher, she excelled at her job. All of her students learned the art, even if not to any great achievements, but at least passing to survive and do well on any tests. There were some she would never recommend if there were a retarded spider monkey available to do the work instead, but they learned what she taught them, even if they couldn't figure out more on their own. Some of her students would come out of her class after seven years only ever able to transfigure something she had taught them in classes, but that would allow them to pass their tests and get their careers. Still, she'd always keep tabs on that spider monkey, regardless.

As Deputy Headmistress, she was less stellar. Dumbledore rode roughshod over her for a good many of her duties, keeping her from being as effective as she would like to be and society as a whole kept her from stopping much of the worst elements in their school. Racial and derogatory slurs like those the Malfoy spawn spewed out almost daily was enough to make her grind her teeth, but with pressure from both Dumbledore and highly influential members of society, who pointed out repeatedly that there was nothing illegal about voicing one's opinion, punishments for such acts was simply not worth the trouble when all those other people could cause greater repercussions for the school as a whole. To say nothing of Dumbledore's passive attitudes towards almost everything. Only those he felt could never be allowed to stray in any way that resembled a dark path, namely Harry Potter, could be reprimanded for their actions. And even then, he kept those ones on extremely short leashes.

As a Head of House, however, Minerva McGonagall knew she was an utter failure. It wasn't that she chose to be. It's just that, as a general rule, all of her other duties had a tendency to be far more pressing and deserving of her time. But, she still listened to students when they came to her.

Usually...

Minerva's reflections centered around her favorite students when looking to gauge her own successes and failures. She knew it was unprofessional, but she knew it was inevitable. She played favorites. Or at least, she _had_ favorites. She didn't _play_ favorites. That was what Severus did, and she was nothing like that scum!

Hermione Granger, was easily put, her favorite. And, in a lesser, but almost evenly-tied slot for number two, was Harry Potter. Those two were close in a way that Ronald Weasley and food could only ever dream of being, which was saying a lot when you considered one was always inside the other.

Minerva sighed and sipped her cocoa, silently wishing she could add some good brandy into the mix.

Throughout the years, Minerva had failed spectacularly with her favorites, leading her to fear her status with the other students. In their first year, she had done well enough, if you considered a night of detention in the Forbidden Forest filled with dangerous, dark beasts against three children who hadn't barely begun to use their wands as a black mark against her. In her defense, limited though it may have been, she had forgotten that Hagrid would be going there that night. And then they tried to warn her against the theft of the Philosopher's Stone and she had basically told them to stay quiet and hadn't heard them out, leaving them to be the ones to take on a dark wizard and deadly traps because she was too shocked they had learned about it at all.

Their second year, poor dears, they had to deal with a bloody basilisk! Miss Granger had almost died by the beast and Potter by killing it! Admittedly, there wasn't much there she could have done, but the entire year, when students were calling Harry names, ostracizing him, blaming him ... she could have stopped that. Or fought for him. That was to say nothing of that fool Lockhart! Minerva had wanted to fire the man, but Dumbledore had put his foot down and refused her the opportunity to look for a replacement and the man had nearly wiped Potter and Weasley's memories!

Third year ... Minerva still didn't understand what had possessed her to give a family heirloom to a thirteen-then-fourteen year old to play about with time just to get to extra classes that the rules said she couldn't take all at once anyway! That alone should have had her sacked. But no one knew. She suspected Dumbledore did, but the man allowed everyone their games.

Their fourth year. Minerva shook her head and decided to go ahead and add a good shot of brandy to her mix. If she had had any self-respect, she would have resigned that Halloween night, or committed suicide for the shame she brought upon herself. Or just killed Dumbledore. So much went wrong that year. She knew, _knew_, Harry couldn't have been in that contract business if he didn't actually enter himself. Why hadn't she spoken up? Or given Harry hints to train on, or assigned homework relevant tot he tasks? He was too young for that damn fool tournament!

McGonagall had seen the signs then. Harry was growing nervous and restless, reaching a breaking point as his friendship with Ronald seemed to be at its end point, which many of the faculty had been looking forward towards since the boy held Potter back. A friendship was all fine and good, but not when Harry was obviously hip deep into things every single year, and that year it just could not be afforded. But Miss Granger had come to the rescue, bringing him back and helping him.

Minerva wondered, again, why she didn't point out to the school that Harry didn't enter himself. Why she didn't publicly stand by him as Miss Granger did or stop those foolish little brats wearing those buttons.

The only thing she was proud of herself for was in making Hermione Granger Viktor Krum's hostage in the lake. She had argued for _hours_ about that action! That Harry had gotten into a fight with several mer-people in an attempt to rescue her, _before_ going to Ronald Weasley(1), simply validated her thoughts.

The last year, however, was shameful in a way that Minerva still sometimes cried over. She had been bullied and turned into a scared, sniveling little girl by Delores Umbridge. That woman had tortured her students, leaving scars on many, used the imperius on yet others and ran the school like a warden would run their prison.

Hopefully, and Minerva couldn't be totally sure, with less unfriendly activities in the showers.

The obese, toad-like woman looked at some of the seventh-year boys with far too much interest.

But not only that. The Daily Prophet had been running a smear campaign through the year and Dumbledore in his oh-so-infinite wisdom, refused to let her make Harry a Prefect, when he clearly deserved it, and was really the only male who did. Then, to choose _Ronald Bilius Weasley_ as a substitute! The man had gone 'round the bend! The boy had stolen everything he confiscated for himself! McGonagall had cleaned out his trunk the last day of all the nude witch magazines, liquor, stolen naughty pictures of witches that were originally meant for their boyfriends and had been forced to bear it all because Dumbledore chalked it up to boys being boys! And she had been forced to leave the prank items since she couldn't honestly claim them against the rules to _have_, merely _use_.

Harry Potter wouldn't have done that.

And then the worst thing Minerva could have possibly ever imagined. The one failure she could never allow to occur, even in retrospect of all of those other horrible failures. A new failure was nearly upon her, and Minerva knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that she had to finally stand up and do her job. Her Duty. If only to redeem some part of her humanity she had apparently long ago lost.

"You needed to see me, Professor McGonagall?" Hermione Granger asked as she entered the Transfiguration classroom.

"Yes, please sit down," Minerva said, indicating a soft chair she had transfigured to make the girl more comfortable.

Hermione sat, setting her bag of books on the ground beside her. It was simply too heavy to put in her lap.

McGonagall stood and looked longingly out the window for a minute longer, trying to commit the scene to her memory. As odd as it sounded, looking outside right now made her truly realize how old she was and how truly infinitesimal a human's life was. With a final sigh, the old woman walked slowly to her desk and sat down, feeling like conserving the energy her cocoa and brandy was providing her and thankful Hermione was giving her time to get comfortable. Such a kind-hearted girl.

"Miss Granger," Minerva began formally, her harsh mask shown to most students in its place like normal before her shoulders slumped and her tone turned warmer, softer. "Hermione," she corrected. "I have called you to my office, not in the capacity as your Deputy Headmistress, Transfiguration teacher or even your Head of House."

"Ma'am?" Hermione asked, confused despite herself.

"Hermione, what I have to discuss with you today is most likely going to change the way your life turns out. For better or worse, you need to hear what I have to say. What you do with our discussion is entirely yours, of course. If you want to listen and hear me out, then you will not be permitted to leave until I've finished. Otherwise, I offer you this chance to leave now."

Hermione was confused. Very confused, but also very curious. "I don't understand," she said after a short pause. "Why not just tell me and be done with it?"

"Unlike some, Miss Granger, I do not meddle in the lives of the students. I try to guide them when I can, but I feel their mistakes are their own to make. However, your case is slightly different in my eyes, hence why I feel I must speak up. I have failed you and Mister Potter in many ways over the years, and I feel that this is the only way I can redeem any semblance of my humanity."

Now Hermione was both intrigued, and a little scared. But curiousity won out in the end. "I'll listen," she said simply, jumping slightly as the doors to the classroom all shut and locked.

"Miss Granger, let me begin by asking what you want in life. What do you wish to accomplish in your life? What do you wish to do?" McGonagall asked, choosing to let Hermione figure out as much as she could on her own before being told what Minerva knew and saw.

"I ... I don't really know, Professor," Hermione admitted. "I mean, I would like to do something special with my life, but..."

"I understand, child," Minerva said softly. "When we are young, it is often very difficult to decide what we want the rest of our lives to mean. Perhaps it would be better suited if I asked what you did _not_ want to do or become?"

Hermione thought for a moment. "I ... don't want to be just a stay-at-home mother," Hermione said, her first thoughts going to Molly Weasley. "It isn't that I have any lack of respect for them, it's just that ... I want to do more than stay at home and take care of children all day long with nothing else. Maybe a writer or researcher on the side, perhaps, but ..."

"Minister for Magic, perhaps?" McGonagall asked. "A spell crafter? I know you designed one for Mister Potter in your fourth year."

Hermione blushed, but nodded. "I would like that, I think. Or a potion's mistress, though I admit I don't see that being a field I would excel in. I could brew anything you give me, but not create a potion."

"What would Mister Weasley say to you to spur you on?"

Hermione frowned for a moment, seeing in her mind's eye as Ron asked her why she would care about those things. He always wondered why she cared about her studies and what she was learning without really bothering to think that she enjoyed them. It was much like his Quidditch fixation. She didn't understand it, but she saw his desire to play the sport.

Minerva, after about a minute, asked, "what about Mister Potter?"

"Hm?" Hermione asked, looking at her favorite teacher. "Oh, probably something like I'd be brilliant before asking if he could help and how."

Minerva smiled. "Miss Granger, how often, and please think before answering, has Mister Weasley belittled you for your muggle roots?"

"What!" Hermione asked, offended that McGonagall would ask such a thing.

"Miss Granger, I have noticed a disturbing trend with you and Misters Weasley and Potter. One that, normally, I would not bother discussing or bringing up to you. However, I ... I care for you, Hermione."

Hermione's back straightened. "Er ... Student-Teacher relationships aren't exactly-"

"Miss Granger! Please!" Minerva scolded, blushing just a little less than Hermione. "What I mean is I favor you as one would a grandchild."

"Oh," Hermione muttered, unable to look at her teacher in the eye. _'How embarrassing!'_

"Miss Granger, what I'm trying to tell you is I see your attempts at pursuing Mister Weasley and I feel like I must ask you to truly sit and think before you ruin your life!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione asked dangerously, narrowing her eyes at the woman across from her. "Ron's a good guy and I don't see why it's any business of yours who I do or do not date."

"That example I just asked of you," Minerva began, looking unashamed for what she was doing, "had you unable to think of a response for Mister Weasley, and yet you were able to give me something for Mister Potter immediately even while distracted in attempting to think of one for Mister Weasley."

Hermione backed down a little, but was still rather peeved. "That doesn't mean anything, Professor. It-"

"It means everything, Miss Granger!" Minerva stated firmly, her own scowl on her face. "Mister Potter would help you become whatever you wanted and not only support you and your decisions, or even your career, but do everything in his power to help you achieve your dreams and goals. Mister Weasley might give you an encouraging word when you were down or when you succeeded, but would call you daft for even _wanting_ it in the first place!"

Hermione frowned, still scowling at her teacher. However, before she could open her mouth again, McGonagall continued.

"Miss Granger, all I am asking you to do is come to your own conclusions without lying to yourself. If you choose to pursue Mister Weasley, I won't attempt to stop you. But I felt I _had_ to talk with you about this. I have watched and sat back as student after student got together in these halls. I see how some girls desire the most reprehensible boys for reasons that make no sense to me and normally, I allow that to happen simply because it teaches life lessons that generally must be made so the people involved can grow and become better people. However, you are different in many cases, and thus this is the first time I've ever stepped in."

"Why?" Hermione asked, pleadingly.

"Miss Granger," Minerva said softly and with a heavy sigh loaded with regrets and sorrows. "From the very beginning, I have watched the three of you with my heart filled with joy. You are wonderful friends most of the time. To this point in time, I have watched as Mister Weasley berates you for your study habits, only ceasing when assignments are coming due. He is rude and obnoxious in regards to your muggle roots and even sees that world as mostly useless. He can't understand doing _anything_ in a muggle fashion when there is already a wizarding one in place. You are familiar with this, are you not? Has he not consistently belittled you since you first showed up at Hogwarts? It may have lessened, but is it still not there?"

A tear trailed Hermione's left cheek as she looked down, her hands in her lap, but she didn't answer.

"In your third year, you came to me because you were scared for Harry with that broom. Was it not Mister Weasley who kept the animosity active between the three of you until the broom was returned? Did he not say several mean and hurtful things? Even after finding out you were still right about the sender, did he ever once apologize?"

"Why are you saying these things?" Hermione asked. "Ron's a good guy."

"Most of the time, yes, he is," McGonagall admitted with a nod. "The only exceptions are when his pride and jealousy come into play. Then he's a poor friend. Look at your fourth year. He only came back to Harry after the entire school accepted Harry once he out flew a dragon. He is a friend, but a fickle one. Can you honestly, _honestly_ now, say otherwise?"

Hermione sniffled.

"And this year, you are throwing away a truly remarkable friendship over a book!"

"How-?" Hermione began, wondering how people always knew everything going on.

"Everyone knows," Minerva stated simply. "Foolish pride over a book?"

"It's cheating!" Hermione exclaimed. "He's using notes in the margins from who knows who and-"

"And what?" Minerva asked, truly wondering. "Most second-hand books have notes in them like that. Many people find it helpful to put notes there for little reminders or if a teacher prefers another method than the author, will write that in as well. I believe that's common even in your muggle universities."

Hermione scrunched up her face, trying to find fault in the logic, needing to.

"This isn't really about that, is it?" Minerva asked, cottoning on to something different. Hermione's face was growing redder and she wouldn't look the older woman in the eye. Not actions of a girl, even Hermione Granger, discussing school work of any sort. Her many years as a teacher had allowed McGonagall the ability to read different expressions for different thoughts. This expression was one usually for those caught at some point in their plans for illicit activities together. Could it really be that simple? _'One way to find out...'_

"Is this about Mister Potter's attentions towards Miss Weasley?" Minerva asked, catching a flinch from the younger girl. _'Spot on.'_

"Miss Granger, I have already told you I am not here talking with you in any official or school capacity. This is a discussion between women. And as I am sure you are aware with your roommates, women can discuss men with a confidence you aren't likely to get elsewhere. If this is because Mister Potter fancies Ginevra-"

"She isn't good for him!" Hermione bit out furiously. "She's always seen him as The-Boy-Who-Lived and her Knight in Shining Armor! She doesn't see him as Harry Potter! He's a trophy to her!"

"Then take him from her!" McGonagall exclaimed, just as loudly and much to Hermione's shock. "The boy cares for you more than anyone else! Hell, _everyone_ knows he left a date last year for you!"

"Wa-wa-" Hermione mumbled incoherently. Did she just get told to do what she think she heard?

"Miss Granger, if you want to go for Harry Potter, then by all means, you have my blessing to find a quiet place in this school and do whatever you wish," McGonagall said, rather amused by the bright blush and wide eyes. "If you do not desire him, fine. I am not telling you to pursue him. What I am asking, even begging you to do, is not make a mistake you will regret for all of your days." McGonagall looked out the window and only because Hermione was so silent, afraid to make noise, did she hear the rest. "It could be a sad, painful thing that you could never come back from."

"But," Hermione began, "he's pursuing Ginny."

"And she's got a boyfriend right now, yes? One that she gets caught in broom closets with? What right does she have to any man other than her own?"

Hermione swallowed thickly.

"Miss Granger, may I ask you a serious question?" Hermione nodded, still shell shocked. "Is Mister Weasley a true pursuit or a safe and easy selection?"

Hermione jerked as if stung, looking down again. "Professor," she began, seeing this as an older, mentor rather than a teacher at the moment, "I know I'm not much to look at and no one's really showed any interest in me-"

Hermione looked up, affronted as Minerva McGonagall broke out into loud guffaws. Ones that took several minutes to cease enough for the aged woman to speak again. "Miss Granger!" Minerva said loudly, still amused. "Have you _not_ seen the way Potter's looked at you? Or Weasley or several others? By the gods, girl! If it weren't for the fact that probably ninety percent of the school believes you and Potter will be married before school is let out, or not just simply terrified of Harry thinking that you're dating in secret, you'd have several suitors! You're _very_ attractive!"

"What!" Hermione near shrieked. "I've never noticed anyone looking at me like that! I mean, Krum and Ron, but-"

"You know Harry's status in our world, Hermione," Minerva said simply. "His wealth, his prestige and his raw power. Almost every girl in this school would shag him in a heartbeat to get at any of that, or just for fun, but _they're_ all terrified of _you_!" McGonagall broke out into loud guffaws again.

"It isn't _that_ funny," Hermione stated, somewhat annoyed now.

"Miss Granger," Minerva poured a bit more brandy into her cocoa behind the desk so her student wouldn't see. This conversation was much easier as it wore on! She wasn't sure when the cocoa had all been drunk from her mug, though. "So many people in this school believe you two are already dating that the Weasley twins aren't even holding a wager on the two of you getting together."

"What!" Bushy hair poofed out.

Minerva nodded, giggling into her cup as she took a healthy dose of the stomach-warming goodness. "Mhm. The current wager is when Ron attempts something and you turn him into a eunuch."

Oddly, Hermione didn't blanch. "So..."

"Oh," Minerva waved her hand, unlocking the doors as she spun slightly in her chair. "Go find Potter and show him what he means to you or you'll end up married to the redhead ... er ... Ron, and forced into a life of mediocrity."

Confused and wondering when exactly this conversation when wonky, Hermione grabbed her bag and walked out the door, McGonagall's giggling voice trailing after her. "I hope to see you walking funny tomorrow, Miss Granger!"

xXxXxXx

(1) – A very slight alteration to the Canon Event time line. Harry would first and foremost (at least in this reality) go for the one person that helped him and stood by him the whole time. Take into account a standard kid/teen mindset to help the damsel in distress, and possibly, he doesn't even notice Ron for a bit until it's pointed out to him.


	8. Vernon Asks

Title: Vernon Asks

Chapter1 – Why Do You Leave, Boy?

Ships: N/A – Would be Harry/Hermione/Luna if continued

Warnings: Discussion of character death, language

Rating: T – Language

Key: "Speech", _'Thoughts'_

Summary: Vernon despises magic and everything associated with it, but he's understandably curious. So, he asks Harry why he always leaves, especially when he's come back looking like hell each time. Harry answers.

xXxXxXx

Vernon Dursley's mustache twitched as he looked to his ceiling through beady eyes, wondering at the oddity that was his freak nephew-in-law. He had always hated children. They were messy, smelly, whiny little brats that cost money and provided nothing. They were just as bad as non-profit companies, only ones you were forced into putting money into. He had his own son through Petunia, and probably a good many prostitutes, and he realized that having an heir was a good thing. Something with which to carry on his pure British blood(1) and the strong Dursley name. That was perfectly fine. Dudley had grown on him. At least as long as he didn't have to spend much time with him.

Then the freak had been dropped on their doorstep and Petunia had gone on to explain a good many facts about a hidden world of magic and the horrors that ravaged it, along with the freaks like her sister.

Vernon had actually already known, being a second-generation squib from a pureblood family known as the Goyles. Standard practice would have had his own father killed, the original squib, but they had been too lazy and just let him work as a servant at which point he grew up and moved into the muggle world. It was cheaper than hiring or buying another servant in their eyes and they could train him up proper. At least, that's what Vernon's father had always told him.

Vernon just chose not to tell Petunia this. He didn't really know much about the magical world, having thought his father was as nutters as they came. Now he knew the stories were true, but had no personal knowledge of what that world held.

Now the freak brat of his wife's sister was going there, had been for four years now, and seemed to always come back depressed and hurting. He knew the boy hated coming back because they treated him as he was meant to be treated, as those freaks had treated his father, which had been passed down onto him to a bit, but there was more to it than that. He could see it in the freak's eyes. Even though it always amused the man, it still made him rather curious.

Vernon's world was very simple. He was the center of it. He knew all and saw all. So naturally, he had to know what made the boy go back to something that was obviously a worse hell than what Vernon could create.

"I'm going to talk to the freak," Vernon grunted to his wife who didn't even bother looking up from her gardening magazine. Not like it mattered. The freak did all the work anyway. Thankfully, Dudley would be at his friend Piers' house for a few hours yet or wreaking havoc with the local kids, enforcing his will upon them. It was the sort of thing that made Vernon proud of his son.

The floorboards creaked beneath him as he lumbered his way up the stairs to the boy's room and he unlocked the multitude of padlocks and chains before opening the door and finding the freak sitting in the same spot and position as he had taken when he arrived the day before.

Vernon actually felt a momentary flash of ... pain? Guilt? Remorse? Humor? He couldn't really tell. It was gone almost as soon as it came. He saw this boy's form from his first arrival in a large basket and mentally compared it to the current boy he saw, but the flash was gone just as quickly as it had arrived. In that single instant, he reflected on where the boy came from and what he had become and on his treatment throughout his life, and then felt nothing but the general animosity as always.

"Why do you do it, boy?" Vernon asked in a tone of voice that showed more care and concern than Harry had ever received before. There was a lack of animosity there that was always present and now nothing more than curiousity.

Harry looked up at the whale of a man who was blocking the door in confusion. For the past two days, though it felt like so much longer, he had been replaying the memories of Cedric Diggory's death in his mind's eye and this interruption was the first time he had been able to stop since his arrival. "Wh-what?" He croaked out, his voice harsh and cracking due to a dry throat.

"I know this is Hell, boy," Vernon grunted, not looking apologetic in the least, but leaning against the frame of the door to take a bit of the load from his legs. "I do my best to make it horrible for you. We both know it and I won't deny it. But no matter how bad it's ever been, I've never been able to make you look so much like a beaten puppy as you are now. Hell, even Marge couldn't accomplish this kind of pain. And it's the same each year when you come back. So I want to know what's worth going into _that_ world if all it does is hurt you more than here?"

Harry blinked and was quiet for several long moments as that question filtered through his mind. It wasn't that the answer eluded him. He could have explained it right away. The fact was he hated Vernon as much as the man hated him. But at the same time, he needed to speak to someone. He had heard Dumbledore telling his friends not to contact him and that he would be cut off from all communications that weren't approved to 'ensure his safety'. Harry knew that, even if they tried, as Hermione had promised to, they wouldn't be able to get through.

Even if the old man had forced him into only being able to talk to the Devil, it was all he had and what he needed to do, he decided. He had hit rock bottom, and Vernon Dursley was the only one he had access to right now. The Devil would hear him speak.

"I leave for the people who are important to me," Harry eventually croaked out.

"Those redheaded bastards who got you out of here two years ago?" Vernon asked. "Or that Herminny girl you talk about in your sleep?"

"Hermione," Harry corrected automatically. "And when did I say her name?"

Vernon chuckled darkly. "Oh, most nights, to be honest. Petunia got strange about it and told Dudley and I not to bring it up. We did so out of respect for her." In truth, she had actually threatened to let them cook their own meals and not let them spend anything on take-out. She withheld Dudley's allowance each summer until the freak left and offered him double to keep his mouth shut. It was surprisingly effective when coupled with diets and the like. Apparently, he was more scared of Petunia than anything else. The woman wouldn't even do her wifely duties if Vernon dared refuse her. "So, who is she?"

"My best friend," Harry admitted. "This last year, someone entered my name into a competition that most participants die in and she was the only one who believed I didn't actually do it myself. They all thought I was doing it for the fame and money and decided to stay away from me."

Vernon grunted, not caring about the emotional crap. Still, this bird had to be a looker if the freak put up with worse than Vernon could accomplish. Either that, or she had some incredible talents. "So you go back for her?"

"Not only," Harry corrected quickly. "The man who killed my parents and died when he attacked me that Halloween came back to life at the end of the year and killed one of the other participants in front of me. I feel like I need to kill him, too."

_'Freak murders?'_ Vernon thought amusedly. _'Now that's something I can get into.'_ The rotund man went over to the single creaky chair and sat down, forcing Harry to turn on his bed to look at his uncle properly. "Then why do you always show up here if you should be training to kill off the other freaks?" Vernon grunted.

"What?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Well, if you wanna kill some bastard freaks, you have to be better than they are if you want to take any of them out before they get you. I don't expect they teach you to kill in that school of yours, and you don't do a damn thing here that'll teach you. What are you doing to learn to kill them? Even the military has to train you up proper before you can kill before you get killed."

"I ... Er ... Professor Dumbledore says I have to come back each summer to recharge some wards that protect me." Harry explained, his mind blanking and wondering what was going on.

"Well, if you were in a thing that was going to kill you, they can't be doing a good job of it, can they?"

Harry's eyes widened. "He used my blood to come back," Harry whispered to himself, still loud enough for Vernon to hear. "How could he do that if just touching me was meant to hurt him?"

"So, whatever you keep coming back for is a shite excuse, then?" Vernon asked, wondering if this meant he'd be rid of the little bastard. _'To live the dream...'_

"I ... I guess so," Harry admitted. "But why? Why would I have to keep coming back?"

"Hell if I know," Vernon grunted. "I've been asking myself that one since the bloody beginning."

Harry ignored his uncle, beginning to wonder about a lot of things. His mind suddenly had an outlet and, whether it was paranoia or one epiphany after another, links began to form in his mind's eye, of a larger picture shrouded in manipulations. "He keeps me from communicating with anyone, he stops my friends from speaking with me. Dumbledore has no reason to do these things. So, why does he?"

"You're asking the wrong questions, boy," Vernon interrupted with a snort. "When one of our people in Grunnings is caught doing something they shouldn't, we ask what they gain from it if it isn't obvious right away. We had a right bastard about two years ago who was taking the industrial drill bits for a few days and then returning them. We didn't realize it at the time, but he was taking the diamond tips. Not large enough for anything specifically, but get enough of it and coat your artwork with it and you find yourself with a more expensive item. That, and he was using them to commit crimes by drilling into safes."

"What he'd gain?" Harry asked, ignoring the back story about why to think that. "Well, I'm always here. If I'm not here, then I'm at school."

"So, you're always in the same place? He always knows where to find you and knows who's around you." Vernon said. Regardless of what people thought of the man, he was a damn good business man and more intelligent than he let on. He was just a bastard, which required a hell of a lot of smarming and kiss-assery to advance in the world when people didn't like you. "We keep your ass locked up or working. What does this Dumbledore freak have to do with you where he gives you orders outside of school?"

Harry's chest hurt, wondering why he never asked himself these questions. Adrenaline was beginning to pump throughout his body and he was beginning to feel claustrophobic. "I ... I don't know."

"Then why do you listen?" Vernon asked rudely. "You know you do what we tell you 'or else', but what has that freak got on you?"

"N-Nothing," Harry stammered. "There's nothing on me to have. I'm just ... really famous in that world for surviving a spell that no one has ever survived before. It's designed to kill you instantly without a trace. No marks on the body or anything. I got a scar, but was still alive."

"There's gotta be something, boy. The only reason to control something is because it's worth something," Vernon explained. "Have you got money in that world?"

Harry hesitated, looking at Vernon askance.

"Just answer the bloody question, boy," Vernon growled, understanding what his nephew was thinking. "I'm not stepping into that world, but if you have something, it would explain things."

"A little," Harry hedged, not trusting his uncle. "My parents left me a trust fund that will pay for my schooling and supplies I need for classes."

"What else? A trust fund is fully accessible to the holder, usually, but it'd take a bloody moron to leave a kid with full access to everything they left him."

"Er ... I never asked," Harry said, more worried about what he didn't know compared to his uncle, who was being more helpful than he would have expected.

"Then do so," the older man ordered, his mustache twitching. "If you have the means to be gone from here for good, I'd rather you take it and be gone than deal with you and all the other freaks who keep popping up. I'll even help you get out of here if you need it."

Vernon leaned back in the chair, slightly nervous about the large amount of creaking it was doing. "So, the question remains, why do you keep going back? I get you've got a girl, but here, there'd be no attempts on your life like you seem to say is going on there."

For the first time, Harry explained his time at Hogwarts and his first four years there, getting several grunts or snorts from Vernon and the occasional snarky comment. The conversation lasted long enough that Petunia had cooked dinner and Harry had obtained his very first decent meal in that household.

With subtle guiding from Vernon that Harry honestly didn't think Vernon was capable of, the walrus-like man had managed to get Harry to talk about a good number of things he hadn't originally planned on without even realizing he was being manipulated into doing it. But it wasn't that Vernon was looking to screw Harry over. He honestly and truly was hoping to get rid of the boy, even if it meant a clean break, regardless of anything else.

Vernon had managed to get Harry to talk about his fame and how people treated him, along with giving the boy a heavy dose of guilt and rage when Harry was made to realize how much his best female friend had suffered because of their friendship thanks to Rita Skeeter and the others and how they seemed to take Dumbledore's word as absolute.

He had also forced Harry to question a good many things, mostly his friends and quite literally _everyone's_ motives in relation to him. Vernon had taken a perverse glee in trying to shatter Harry's vision of the other world he kept going to and had pushed him on every conceivable concept that Harry discussed, hoping to leave Harry broken and weeping, but still capable of leaving them, possibly just running off and disappearing from both worlds if needed.

But that had all led to a sense of pride at being able to show off at just how capable and strong his mind really and truly was. Harry was more of what Vernon had wanted from his own son. He listened, frighteningly enough. Dudley heard what Vernon told him, but never took his advice. Terrorizing the kids of the neighborhood was amusing, but it was going to get the brat caught sooner or later, which is why he tried to stop it all from happening at first. Now, he tested his son on how not to get caught.

It was how you succeeded in the business world, according to Vernon Dursley. If you could pull it off in the real world, then the business one was one step up from that, since they all did the same as well and weren't the sheep of the real world.

That seemed to hold especially true for Harry's world.

Plus, being a shrewd business man who lived by making deals and catching what people said in an attempt to personalize his pitches, Vernon's ears twitched when the father of the redhead clan said they owed Harry a life debt. Owing any kind of debt was interesting enough, to Vernon's mind. But that it could help the boy get out, all the better. But it would be something for another time.

"So, in four years, that Hermione girl helped you through damn near everything, even when she was a statue, the redhead bastard who broke our windows treats you both like shite, you've got your headmaster forcing you to do things that aren't his place and you just sit back and take it all as they bend you over the barrel and take turns with you, right? To say nothing of the freak wanker in your potions class who actually _does_ seem to have a hard-on for you with the way he's so focused. And you don't do anything?"

Harry had the decency to blush. "Er ..."

"I suppose we hold part of the blame for that," Vernon considered to himself. It was actually a little impressive just how broken they had made him even when they weren't around. "But if you want to kill more of the freaks, you can't be someone's bitch, you understand?"

"What am I supposed to do?" Harry asked, finally frustrated to ask for help from the Devil.

"Why are you fighting?" Vernon asked quietly, leaning forward and staring through beady eyes into Harry's wide green ones. "If you don't have a reason to _fight_, then you don't have a reason to _win_. Why. Do. You. Fight?"

Path One (2)

"Because I want to kill someone," Harry admitted after several moments. "A lot of someones."

Path Two (3)

"To protect the ones I care for before they are killed, too," Harry thought, visions of Hermione and the Weasleys and many students flashing through his head.

Path Three (4)

"To rule them all," Harry said coldly, thinking of all the pain and anguish he had suffered in his life. Even those things in his life which could be considered good ended up leading towards painful and death-defying situations. They had all, at one point or another, abandoned him and turned on him at the drop of a hat. Well, except for Hermione. For that loyalty, he felt it only right that he have her at his side and let her change things to suit her desires, as well.

Post Choice (Regardless of path taken)

"Well," Vernon grunted, "it seems like you have a reason. But is it enough?"

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Boy, when I was your age, I wanted a job, a home and a wife who'd know her place. I got all of that, and I'm happy. Well, as happy as can be with _your_ lot and you around," Vernon said, his mustache twitching. "But the point is, I had something I wanted to work towards. Once you kill these freaks, what do you have after that? Why will you continue?"

Harry looked down in a strange sense of calm. "Why are you talking with me like this? Usually you throw your fists and just try to break me."

Vernon was quiet a moment as he tried to figure that out himself. "I want you gone. If it means helping you for once, so be it. I'd rather you just be gone and out of my hair than have to put up with you or your kind. And as much as Dudley is of myself, he's a right idiot. He's going to end up getting caught if he doesn't listen. Surprisingly enough, you did. Just don't expect it again unless it's to get your arse out of here."

Vernon got up and hit Harry on the shoulder under the guise of patting it, but using far too much force to have been accidental and was about to leave the room before he turned. "One final piece of advice, boy. You need to stop being led around by the nose. I know we trained you into it, but you should stop blindly following anyone's orders or suggestions unless you actually want to and start thinking for yourself. From your story, all you do is what people tell you." Then he was gone.

xXxXxXx

Notes:

1– Possible future idea; Harry notice Vernon's hatred of anything not British and relates it to Pureblood extremism, making him look for similar features in magicals (Weasleys, Faculty, etc.) Possible means by which he decides to be open about everything unless they prove to be just as close-minded as his 'family'.

2- Possible choice for a darker story where Harry fights because he wants revenge and it's the one way he can get it by killing a large number of people who are truly bad. A darker and more malignant repressed desire from pre-Hogwarts and his years there. Ultimately about the War and using the relationship with Hermione(/Luna) as a way to remain good and anchored to doing it all for the right reasons and ensure he doesn't cross a line.

3- Lighter path where Harry truly wants to live a normal life, but wants to ensure his friends remain safe and protected, no matter the cost. A more painful path than number two, but ultimately about the relationship and the power of fierce devotion and love.

4-Total dark path wherein Harry can't stand all the bad in his life any longer. He has only one bright point (redeeming/Light) in his life right now (Hermione) and he decides he's going to convert/manipulate her into following his path. He will kill the Malfoy family as his first kills, along with taking Hermione and Luna to get them to do the same, thus reaching a point of no return. Use of Veritaserum to make them confess their crimes to make it more palatable in beginning, then it gets easier. Take over everything, rule everything.


	9. The Only Thing

**Title**: The Only Thing

**Chapter**: One-Shot

**Ships**: Harry/Hermione/Luna (NOT A HAREM! Hermione and Luna ONLY in EVERY way!)

**Rating**: M – Nudity, Slavery, Death, Beatings, Off-Screen Sex, Abuse, Language

**WARNINGS**: Somewhat graphic abuse in the beginning and a little later throughout the story, Darker Harry/Hermione/Luna, Ron and Ginny bashing, Molly bashing, Discuss of rape (what I believe is Canon), Canon compliant (the worst of all of these warnings, I'm sorry to say.)

**Alignments**: Ruthless!Harry/Hermione/Luna, Misguided!Pureblood-advocate!Dumbledore

**Tags**: Time-Travel by Hallows, Life Debts, Slavery, Plot Request, Canon-Compliant History

**Slaves**: _**NO SEX WITH SLAVES!**_ I am NOT writing that in this. **It's ONLY to make them able to study whatever they want to become whatever they want without family interference**. All female Hogwarts students, but only in title. Used only to keep them safe, nothing bad.

**Status**: WIP

**Notes**: Tonks is one year younger in this universe, so she is a seventh year when Harry goes back. The slaves thing is to hide the fact Harry takes all the female heirs of pureblood homes for leverage to ruin everyone's agenda. It WON'T happen, but would be a pretty good idle threat that, if the next heir was born through Harry, those currently in power are destined to lose everything. **Harry will treat the slaves more like daughters and WILL RELEASE THEM** after perhaps a year or two.

**Summary**: The day after the Epilogue, Hermione confronts Ginny after realizing Harry didn't even acknowledge her presence when they dropped their children off on the Hogwarts Express and finds out Ginny has been using controlling potions on Harry and Ron on her. Enraged, Ginny kills Hermione as Harry walks in and sees Ginny kill the only reason he never went dark. After eliminating Ginny, Harry is met by Luna Lovegood who offers him a chance to fix everything and has only three requests to make. Harry then goes back as his second year ends and claims the Right of Conquest on Voldemort's soul fragment, gaining control over everything Voldemort had control over, including his death eaters.

'_Ut victor ac victum vado exuviae ac bellum_' – "To the victor of conquest go the spoils of war"

**[Author's Notes]** – This story was written due to request by a friend who gave me guidelines (mentioned below, **though I am NOT following them all**.) If I end up posting this, it will be because it is a one-shot and I figured I may as well. At the moment of writing this, I don't plan to post it.

[**DONE**] Starts the day after the Epilogue (19 years later), Hermione confronts Ginny about controlling potions used on Harry. Ginny uses the killing curse on Hermione, Harry witnesses it.

[**DONE**] Harry goes back in time to second or third year, at my discretion using means of my choosing

[**DONE**] Harry enslaves at least one girl from all years, preferably all girls in Hogwarts, ship(s) of my choice. Reasons of my choice.

[**REFUSED**] All slaves are to wear an outfit made of leather straps around their bodies with crotchless panties that have a vibrating nub that constantly touches the clitoris that Harry can activate at will and straps should encircle the breasts, but not cover them.

[**REFUSED**] Harry freely has sex with all of his slaves at will.(Hermione and Luna, ONLY!)

xXxXxXx

Hermione knocked on the door to Potter Manor and looked around nervously. The day before, she had sent her children off to Hogwarts after Ron had _finally_ obtained his bloody driver's license (and he thought she was ignorant of the fact that he used magic to confund the instructor when, in truth, she ignored it because she was tired of fighting with him about the situation and his inability to get it legally) and her best friend, Harry Potter, hadn't even acknowledged her existence. For the past nineteen years after the Final Battle where Harry had finally killed Voldemort, the boy had been hot and cold to her; some times, he was his old self, even more affectionate than they had been in the month alone during the hunt (and they had made love to each other as their firsts) and some times, he seemed to be disgusted with her presence, but he had never just simply not acknowledged her before. So, she decided to come to his expansive mansion where he lived with his wife Ginny and see if she could find anything out.

"Miss Hermione!" Dobby greeted with a happy hop. "Dobby is missing you! Oh! Master Harry isn't here, but should be in less than an hour! Come in, come in! No one is being here yet."

"Thank you, Dobby," Hermione said, smiling amusedly. During the end of the war, Dobby had taken a killing curse for Harry and everyone thought the poor elf had died, but it was pure luck that it had instead hit a locket with a picture of Harry and Dobby in it Harry had given him for Christmas. It was the first time Hermione could ever really say she had seen Harry kiss an elf. Oddly, not the last... "I was wondering, would you keep a secret from Harry and Ginny if I asked you to? And if it was guaranteed not to hurt them? It's meant to protect Harry," she asked, deciding to take what time she could without others around to do what she needed.

Dobby nodded enthusiastically. "Dobby would do anything to help Master Harry and his Miss Hermione!"

Biting the bottom of her lip, Hermione nodded resolutely. "Dobby, Harry didn't have anything to do with me yesterday, and it's been just getting worse for the past few years. To be honest, I'm worried something may be affecting his mind. He just outright ignored me and didn't even say 'hello' or anything."

Dobby's ears drooped and he looked around nervously.

Picking up on the elf's distress, Hermione immediately pounced. "Dobby, please. I can't begin to tell you how badly not talking to Harry hurts," she pled, getting down to the elf's level. What she didn't want to admit was that it hurt so much partly because she realized she hadn't attempted to speak to him yesterday, either. Not everything had been purely Harry, and it was something she hadn't noticed until later the night before when she realized Harry hadn't paid her any mind. "I need to protect him."

Dobby nodded hesitantly. "Dobby is cleaning the whole house every day, but Mistress Ginny is not letting Dobby into the potion's lab. If anything be hurting Master Harry in this house, it be there. She also be the only one making his breakfast on the first of every month and always is visiting that room first. Dobby is not being allowed in there, but Master Harry is saying you is always welcome anywhere in his home and Mistress Ginny is not Dobby's true master and is never saying no one else is not being allowed in there, so you is being allowed to go in."

Hermione's hair frizzed up as her anger rose and she realized this didn't look good for Ginny or Harry. "Take me there."

xXxXxXx

Ginny smiled brightly as she dropped the massive number of bags from the various shops and boutiques she had been at all day after apparating into the apparition zone in the greeting hall of Potter Manor. The first week of each month was always best for her to get away with free reign over hers and Harry's vaults at Gringotts and she always used them to best effect.

Point in fact, all of her bags were shrunk, and she could still barely carry all of them.

"Dobby!" Ginny called out before mumbling, "where is that stupid elf?" Even now, she held a small grudge against Harry for letting Winky go to serve her brother and Hermione when the bushy-haired brunette was unable to keep up with Ron's filthy habits on her own, even with the use of magic. At least the female elf knew how to act properly.

"Dobby is here, Mistress," Dobby said, bringing in a fuming Hermione.

Ginny looked into Hermione's hands and saw the silver and crystal flasks that were necessary to maintain the potions she had been slipping to Harry and knew she was caught. "What the hell do you think you're doing in my house!" Ginny roared angrily at Hermione.

"You're controlling Harry with potions!" Hermione roared back just as vehemently. "How long has this been going on!"

Ginny smirked and tossed her hair. In a way, this was a relief. For nearly two decades, she had been doing this, and the bushy-haired brunette never figured it out until now. "Since the beginning of our relationship you insufferable twit," Ginny hissed. "Ron's actually been doing the same thing with you for even longer than the war's end. You think it was just his _oh so charming_ smile that made you shag him when he talked about those bloody house elves?" Ginny scoffed. "Hell no!"

"What!" Hermione asked, aghast. Ron had been doing the same thing to her? How had she never noticed? She had never even _suspected!_

"Oh yes," Ginny smiled, turning to sit on the couch and position herself so her wand was just at her hand. "He's been doing it since the end of your fifth year when he learned about love potions. Even asked me to help him with a stock for when you went on that bloody hunt that you tried to keep me in the dark about. He'd been buying Fred and George's stock and dosing you all the time. Sadly, those were actually only designed to get a single kiss out of the victim and the nearest person. Of course, he wound up quitting since they weren't strong enough, apparently. And even then, they only seemed to make you fancy him, so he had to go to loyalty potions with a bit of lust and love potion in the mix. I was right proud of that concoction, personally. You and Harry had both required the stronger stuff. Disgusting, really."

Hermione seethed. "I've known since the beginning Ron was a bloody prat and pathetic. You think I'd have married him if it didn't mean staying near Harry? I knew the only way I could still be in Harry's life was to be a part of the family. I knew from the beginning you were jealous of our relationship with each other."

"Yes," Ginny sneered. "That's why I had to dose you both since right after he came back. I didn't know how _close_ you two had gotten, especially once my moronic brother left you both alone to do who knows what."

"Each other," Hermione said proudly, only now admitting what the two had gotten up to while alone for over a month alone. "I had always wondered why we were both so attracted to other people after we made a promise to each other after shagging the first time. And Ron didn't get to _touch_ me until after we were married."

"I always thought the two of you fucked, but never knew for sure. And Harry always refused to answer anything about the hunt, even to this day. Even dosing him with veritaserum didn't work. That bloody resistance to all mind magics is a pain in the arse."

Hermione shook her head. "That doesn't matter. I know what these potions are and I'm going to the Aurors. We'll see how they feel about you controlling The-Man-Who-Conquered."

Ginny smiled. "I think I'll just say ... AVADA KEDAVRA!"

xXxXxXx

Harry got off work early, a feat that was almost impossible for an Unspeakable, especially a Master Unspeakable such as himself who led the department of all the most secretive magics, even though he had a strong cover as a Head Auror and rushed home so he could spend time with his wife. He didn't know what it was, but even after nineteen years, his love never seemed to flag down. There were times when he got down at the end of some months, sometimes wondering how his life would have turned out with Hermione, Luna Lovegood, Cho Chang or even Millicent Bulstrode, but he assumed it was because almost every really bad thing that ever happened to him happened as the months were ending.

Quietly, so as to surprise his wife, he apparated into his greeting hall and was about to rush up the stairs where he knew she hid her monthly purchases when he heard her voice.

"What the hell do you think you're doing in my house!" He heard Ginny roar in a voice usually associated with him when he brought up his best friend, which he just so happened to hear next.

"You're controlling Harry with potions!" Hermione roared back just as vehemently. "How long has this been going on!"

"Since the beginning of our relationship you insufferable twit," Ginny hissed, much to Harry's shock. He put his back to the wall and swallowed thickly. Looking back on his life, he tried to see if it was true and realized she was right. He and Hermione were supposed to begin officially dating once the whole mess with Voldemort was over, but for some reason, they both seemed to prefer someone else; him preferring Ginny and Hermione preferring Ron. Even though they made love each night but the first three from when Ron left, they seemed to prefer others. And why?

"That doesn't matter," he heard Hermione say, missing what had happened in the middle, "I know what these potions are and I'm going to the Aurors. We'll see how they feel about you controlling The-Man-Who-Conquered."

"I think I'll just say AVADA ... KEDAVRA!"

Harry's eyes widened and he twirled and shoved his hand out to summon Hermione from the line of fire, but it was too late. The green light erupted from Ginny's wand as he was turning and by the time he pulled Hermione with his magic, the green light hit her hand, all that was left in its path.

Hermione's dead body hit Harry and he caught her, dropping to the ground to cuddle her to him. Immediately, he looked up at Ginny's shocked expression with rage-filled eyes and he summoned her wand to him, leaving her defenseless.

"Dobby," he told the little elf who had stayed in the corner, unable to stop his mistress and not able to leave since he had been called, "wait outside and do not come in until I tell you to," Harry hissed out. Dobby left as Harry finished speaking.

"Harry! It's not what it-"

"SILENCE!" Harry's magic roared and every piece of glass in the house shattered as the house itself vibrated, nearly shaking itself apart as only the magical reinforcements held it up even while plaster and small bits of debris filled the air. Ginny did as obeyed.

Quietly, Harry bent down and kissed Hermione's still-warm lips gently. Then the very essence of Harry, deep within himself snapped, and he got up and advanced on Ginny with death in his eyes.

"Harry, I can explain! She – AH!" Ginny was forced to do nothing but yell out in pain as Harry grabbed the red-headed woman by her shirt and he punched her in the face, breaking her nose using two decades of training and technique to make each hit count. The second hit broke her jaw and the third made her lose control of her left eye's movements and rolled about freely in its socket even as she lost control over her bowels.

"She was _everything_ to me!" He roared as he punched his wife of eighteen years. A woman who used magic to make herself that wife and made him lose his Hermione.

"Harry! Pl- AH!"

"You fucking **bitch**! She was the _only_ reason I stayed to fight that bastard!" He punched her again, knocking out a couple of teeth. "She was the _only_ reason I didn't leave this bloody country and hide! She was the _only_ thing that kept me from going dark!"

For several long minutes, Harry beat Ginny until she was a broken and mangled version of the beautiful woman that she had been and both of them were covered in blood. But he didn't kill her. Once he was done venting his frustrations and she was laying at his feet, crying pitifully, he dropped her and vanished her clothes with nothing but a furious thought.

"You manipulated me for my money, for sex and to become my wife by keeping me from the girl I would have chosen. This cannot, and will not, be forgiven. Ginny, I'm calling in your life debt," he said, getting a whimper from the girl who would do anything to make the pain stop. "You will use your wand to masturbate with and cast no spells until just before you climax. Right before you cum, you will cast the killing curse with as much power as you can put behind it up your pussy before you get the chance to have an orgasm. So I have spoken, mote it be!"

Ginny wailed pitifully as her own magic forced her to begin doing what was ordered of her as Harry cast a numbing charm to ensure the pain didn't keep her from doing what he ordered, then turned and picked Hermione's body up gently, taking her to the greeting hall where a couch was situated that he could put Hermione down on, not seeing the blonde woman who was in the corner and watching him as his entire focus went to the cooling body of his first lover.

"I'm so sorry, Hermione," Harry whispered, moving Hermione's brown locks from her face. "If only I had been able to notice what was happening, then maybe I could have fixed this. All of this." He began to cry and kissed Hermione's unresponsive lips again, holding the girl tightly.

"What if I could give you a way back," Luna Lovegood asked, surprising Harry who spun and flared his magical aura before he realized who it was and what was said.

"What do you mean?" He asked, looking at the ghost of the woman he once knew. She was still alive, but only because she actually had a body. Her hair was dull where it had once been shiny and bright, her eyes seemed, sunken into her head, dead and scared and her body, while maintaining the lithe and beautiful curves she had always held, looked weak and haggard as if she had been living a harsh life that reminded the black-haired boy of Remus Lupin when he was still alive.

"A way for you to go back into our time line where everything is precisely as it was in our past, but you can go back to change the future. Our current present. Would you be willing to help me if I help you do so?" She asked, stepping forward.

Harry nodded immediately. "I would," he said, dropping his hand from where he had planned on blasting the intruder to Hell. "But you can't change the future, no matter how badly I wanted to." In the edge of their hearing, they heard Ginny beginning to moan and cry as she was beginning to feel her own arousal start to climb thanks to the numbing charms over her whole body but the one spot she was working on. Harry had wanted to make sure the pain didn't allow her to keep from fulfilling his orders, so all she could feel was her own pussy, which he made sure was the only thing left without numbing charms.

Luna watched as he looked to Hermione with pain-filled eyes and knew he would help her. His eyes were the same ones she saw in the mirror every day; hollow, lifeless and desperate. "There is one way. I've been researching it since the war. It would create a new time line in an alternate reality. So, everything in this world will remain as it is, but you can go back to a new and better one. Or, it may destroy the present so the two can't share the same space, which has about an eighty percent chance, but I have been able to prove it will not result in a paradox," Luna said, looking very different than Harry remembered. Her gaze didn't stray and she looked to have advanced in her years far more than she should have. It wasn't just her appearance as he had noticed moments ago, but the way she acted as well.

"How?" It wasn't a request. They could hear Ginny's moans of unwanted pleasure beginning to get much louder from the next room over and the edge of fear on each sound.

"As the Master of the Hallows, you can go back. I can tell you what you must do. As you know, my father was the foremost expert in the Hallows and I continued his research after he died. If you come with me now, we can have things done by tonight to send you back."

Harry looked at the girl for a few moments before nodding. He turned to kiss Hermione and promised her he would fix everything. Turning back to Luna, they stepped over to the apparition point as Ginny wailed and a bright green flash filled their vision before chunks of flesh and blood exploded into the room over everything but Hermione, who had a permanent stasis charm and shield cast around her as they apparated to Luna's home with the blonde guiding him. It had once been a black tower that looked like a giant chess piece, but after the girl's experiences in Malfoy Manor, she now lived in what appeared to be an impenetrable fortress.

"How did you know to come?" He asked.

Luna sighed. "No one ever believes the creatures I wrote about could possibly exist," she said sadly. "But the truth is, most of them do. It's a matter of finding and seeing them. And I admit, most may be different than reported, but there are those who exist outside the flow of time. I've befriended them, even since I was a child, and they told me what was about to happen and what to do. Normally, they do not tell of the future because it is dangerous, which is why I was not allowed to interfere, but I can give you an alternative where your life wasn't all a lie," she told him.

"And what's in it for you?" He asked. "I can go back, but if this is an alternate reality, then nothing changes here. I just go away."

"Yes, which is why I have three requests to make of you."

"Three?" He asked, wondering what she could want should this reality become destroyed to make way for the new one.

"A magical number, you know," she said as if hinting at some secret with the barest hint of her old self peeking through. "Best to always be prepared."

"And what are these requests?" He asked again.

"First, I would like you to go back and be my friend. Help and protect me no matter what." She shuddered, looking around with terrified eyes at all of the shadows around her. "I have refused to use magic except in cases of need and my own power levels are barely that of a first year student, now. I constantly live in fear and seclusion because I'm worried about being around others and I don't want that for myself, even if I don't know the alternative in the other life and I trust you and that you will be true when you go back."

Harry watched and listened, wondering how this had anything to do with things, but agreed immediately to his first stipulation. He knew what had happened to her in her past and felt this was a very small favor to ask. "You will be under my protection from the first day I arrive. Nothing will harm you without me coming down to reign terror and horror on whoever does so," he swore. "For giving me back Hermione, I can do no less, and will do far more for you."

"Yes," Luna said, shivering even without any cold in the home. "I expect you would. You know where Voldemort's Horcruxes are and can finish things off much earlier. I have a memory sphere I would like you to save in a part of your mind filled with many of my experiences and knowledge so my younger self will have them to help you in this as well."

Harry nodded. "And the second request?"

Luna stopped shivering and looked at Harry with pleading eyes, still very scared. "My first encounter was with Draco Malfoy in Malfoy Manor before I was passed around until I stopped fighting. I ... I want you to make love to me once as if I were Hermione so I could experience it, if only once, before I lose all hope. I couldn't be near another man since I was freed from there and I just want one experience that isn't painful. That isn't of me being either violently raped or just having passed out while being used."

Harry looked at her with wide eyes, but felt he couldn't deny her. Not when she was giving him a way to get Hermione back. "A little odd, but I will do my best," he said. "And your third request?"

Luna looked to the side with a small blush, relieved he didn't deny her her one awkward request. She knew she had lost much of the beauty she once had. She was commonly mistaken for a woman more than double her actual age and moved like it, too. That Harry was willing to do this was both a blessing, and spoke of how wonderful he truly was. "May I tell you later?" She requested quietly. "It won't impede you or make things more difficult for you, I promise."

Harry eyed her carefully before nodding. "If you wish it." Nothing, no matter the girl's price or the cost to himself, could keep him from what he had to do now.

Luna nodded and thanked him. "You need only call for the Hallows and they will come to you." Once he had done so, surprised as he had never attempted it in the past, she nodded and told him how to start the ritual to send himself back.

xXxXxXx

Luna hugged Harry's naked body to her as she came down from her high and relished Harry's kisses over her face and neck and his gentle embrace. "Thank you, Harry. This was far better than I could have ever dreamed and hoped for. I never thought it could be so wonderful."

Harry smiled warmly, not feeling nearly as bad as he suspected he would if he didn't know he wasn't getting Hermione back in only a few hours' time. Though she had asked him to make love to her as he would Hermione, he had found himself unable to and, after a few minutes of talking, he made love to her as Luna. It was an act that had made her not even worry about being in his arms when usually being within feet of another person made her want to scream. "I assumed as much, which would explain why you wanted five goes."

Luna blushed and grabbed a glowing, blue-white crystal ball from the night stand and put the memories of their lovemaking into it, then handed it to Harry. "Please put this into a section of your mind so you can give them to me later," she told him, not wanting to explain that she just wanted to maintain that feeling of being loved and cherished for just a little longer.

Harry did so, taking only a minute to organize everything. At thirty-eight, he was far better at Occlumency and Legilimency than Dumbledore's highest acclaims ever supported, a useful byproduct of defending his own mind naturally against Voldemort's horcrux that had once been in his scar. "I'm done," he said, hugging Luna gently and handing her the sphere back, its blue-white swirling mists gone from the center now.

Luna set it carefully on the nightstand and then smiled at Harry sadly, caressing his face as she realized she was finally at peace and content in her life. "My third request," she said quietly. "I want you to kill me."

"WHAT!" Harry exclaimed.

Luna swallowed thickly, feeling a touch of fear of Harry. She had always been terrified of all men but him since her experiences, but even yelling at her, she knew she could trust him. "Harry, what you just had was my entire life before they captured me and everything afterwards, minus the actual memories of the events. I sat in a room one day and discussed the events for my younger self so I would know, but I have nothing in this life," she said. "I am terrified of men and even of using magic. I can't even leave my home and be outside without fearing something will come out for me. I would have killed myself long ago if my nargles hadn't told me you would need me today. When I lost my father, I was all alone. No one ever came to see if I was okay after ... _after_, and even then, most mocked me. I did well for a little while afterwards, but once my father left, _everything_ terrified me. After the war, and after the need to get whatever revenge I could, and after Daddy's burial, I haven't spent more than a few minutes in the presence of others. Perhaps a few hours' worth of time in the past twenty years, total."

Luna looked up into Harry's eyes and lost a tear from her eye. "That's why I asked you to protect me and keep me. Everyone owed you a life debt from your second year. The basilisk was a direct threat to everyone but Dumbledore, and even then, he knew it was there, so he could just conjure a rooster any time he thought he was in danger. Please, take me as yours, however you must, in order to protect me! I don't want to be alone anymore," she whispered in an anguished, pleading voice.

"What?" Harry asked. "He knew?"

Luna nodded. "Go ask his portrait. Or even go in and take all of his knowledge. You only need to take the magic of his portrait into yourself and use your occlumency to take what you want and remove the rest."

Harry's eyes glistened with purpose and he was about to go and do just that before Luna grabbed him.

"Please, Harry," she begged him. "I can't go with you beyond what I've just done without making you a horcrux for myself to go with you, and that would be impossible to give to my younger self. I can't continue. And I don't think I can do it myself."

Harry kissed Luna once on the mouth as he stroked her hair, his tears trailing down to meet her own. The fact of the matter was, he felt really bad for ignoring her when he knew what she most likely suffered through, and now knew was actually a great deal worse than he could have ever imagined. And he was the type who simply couldn't do what he just did with her and not feel something for the girl. Even with her isolation and lack of care towards her appearance, she was still very lovely. Her hair was scraggly and she looked both haggard and as though she hadn't eaten well since the war, but she was still very pretty and had always helped him no matter the cost to herself. He had always thought of her as weird, but she had been an honest friend. He wished he could say the same of himself. "I will do my best to make you and Hermione mine. I'll protect you, Luna. I'll protect everyone."

Luna smiled and pulled herself back so her body was free to Harry, feeling at peace now. He placed his hand between her surprisingly full breasts as both looked each other in the eyes and she continued to look at him with a sad smile. "Thank you, Harry."

Harry refused to look away as he sent a small jolt of electricity directly to her heart to stop it, killing her instantly, but most importantly, gently. She would not flail about with the impactive power of the killing curse and he wouldn't destroy her with a cutting curse.

"You're welcome, Luna," he whispered, reaching over to close her eyes before taking her and Hermione both to be buried with Luna's parents. Then, he went to Hogwarts where he sucked Dumbledore's horrified portrait dry of magic, along with all of the other screaming headmasters before going back to Luna's home where he stepped into the room next to Luna's bedroom and called the Hallows to himself.

"I will protect everyone," he swore, just before he erupted into green light of the killing curse as his own magical core detonated, followed by the entire fabric of that reality.

xXxXxXx

Harry looked around and knew right away that he wasn't in his past. He was in fucking Limbo again!

"So, you've discovered the Hallows' other uses, eh, Harry?" Dumbledore asked with a congenial smile as he approached the older form of the boy he once knew. Then Harry decked the man, breaking his jaw.

"You fucking bastard," Harry hissed. "You wanted me to be a martyr! You still believe that pureblood shite and you're the one who gave Ginny the books with the controlling potions in them! You split me and Hermione up just so you could begin to get some fresh blood into the gene pool and had me attached to a pureblood!"

Dumbledore looked up at Harry with a horrified expression as the green-eyed demon approached him. "I'm going to fuck you up so bad, old man," he promised darkly, his voice seething in raw hatred as he stalked towards the bloodied geezer on the floor.

"Harry."

Losing all of his rage, Harry spun around and saw his brown-haired goddess with his blonde-haired lover of only a few hours ago. "HERMIONE!" He rushed and grabbed her into a large hug, pulling a squealing Luna in only a few seconds later, much to her delight. "What are you two doing here?"

"You don't think Dumbledore could do this without us being able to also, do you?" Hermione asked with a smirk that she had lost after marrying Ron.

"Uh," Harry looked at Hermione blankly as she chuckled.

"Harry, Luna told me what you are doing. We've actually had much more time here than you've had before arriving and we've gone over all her knowledge and consulted with the library here, even," Hermione said quickly.

"Heaven has a library?" Harry asked dully, wondering why that surprised him so much.

Realizing Hermione was having a difficult time getting across to him, Luna spoke up. "Harry, she wants to tell you that this will destroy the old time line so as not to create a paradox, but will not create an alternate reality. The one change will stop others from happening as they did, so a new world and reality will basically form over the old one, taking its place. It's reality's way of protecting itself from inexistence."

Hermione nodded. "That's right. And what's more, Luna told me about what the two of you did to-"

"I just wanted to give her her requests to get you back," Harry rushed. "I have every intention of being yours when we go back, but she wanted to have meaningful sex, so I thought it was worth the help she was giving me."

Hermione smirked. "I know, but that's not what I'm talking about," she told him.

"Oh..." Harry blushed as Hermione continued.

"What I'm trying to say is you can try to take my memories back with you. See if you can," she said.

Harry didn't waste time and immediately entered Hermione's mind, but realized he couldn't copy anything, so he tried bringing her into his and found it very easy, and comforting. Once there, she realized they could still interact as solid bodies rather than semi-solid, not that it seemed to be a problem for punching old men, and she pounced on him, giving him a long kiss before filling a void he made in his mind for her with her memories of everything but the times she and Ron had sex. She would remember they happened, but she had no plans of remembering the bastard's three and a half inch flobberworm.

That had been the best curse she had ever cast. And Ron would never know it was because he had pissed her off too thoroughly during their third year. Or that she was going to make it worse as soon as she arrived in the past.

Once they left Harry's mind, Dumbledore spoke from where he was rising from the misty ground. "Harry my boy, I don't suppose you'd be willing to take my mind back as well? I could help you greatly and- URK!" He collapsed back to the ground after Luna dropped her foot from his testicles, where they had just been crushed.

"Harry," the blonde began, "could I add the information I got from the library as well?" Harry nodded and drew the girl in as well, then they both left to meet with Hermione on the outside, both transfers taking mere seconds.

"Harry, we've thought it through and would like you to come back just at the end of Second year where you were destroying the diary horcrux," Hermione said.

"Why?"

"The Right of Conquest," Luna answered, illuminating Harry. Phineas Nigelus was a shrewd pureblood and had given his portrait everything he could, so it was rather obvious. He was just going to go back as far as he could, but realized there was no real point. Everything he could have done, he could do after his second year also.

"Ah, I understand. That's a good idea. I hadn't even thought of when to go back, I was just going to go as far back as possible." He looked to Luna and then to Dumbledore who was still clutching his ruined tackle before turning back to the blonde. "You seem ... less skittish, are you okay?"

Luna smiled and nodded. "This is Limbo, but I was in Summerland, or Heaven, or something similar to it. Time flows differently and I've been here for almost five months already with Hermione each day. And, it kind of took the pain away. I still remember, but am detached from it, much like I suspected my younger self would be. And, it kind of helped just to have someone to talk to about it without being alone all the time."

Harry nodded, feeling even more like a heel now. She needed friends all this time and he could have helped if he wasn't such a narcissistic ass worried about being associated with her oddities. "Okay, that makes sense." He looked to Hermione and smiled. "I'll have you back soon."

Hermione shook her head sadly while Luna looked down, radiating just as much sadness. "No, Harry. We will be destroyed when you go back. At least, mostly. You have our memories, so it will be just like us, but not exactly the same. To us, the younger versions of us that is, it will be like being reborn as well, only without the pieces we didn't want our younger selves to have. Our experiences make up who we are, and that's what we've given you to take back, but it won't truly be us. Not _this_ us."

Harry frowned as he looked at both girls. "But, I don't want to lose you."

Both girls smiled and wrapped Harry in hugs. "You won't," they said together as Hermione continued. "We have had time to talk about a lot of things, so we will give you a few ideas when we return, but we've ultimately decided to follow you, no matter where you lead."

"You're our leader and our love," Luna said, much to Harry's shock. "Yes, 'love'. I've loved you since you befriended me, which is why I wanted you before I died. Hermione wants you first when you return, however. But we've decided to share you. I don't want to be alone and Hermione doesn't wish to be with Ronald."

Harry gaped.

"What?" Hermione asked. "Luna said you were a fantastic lover for her and said she would like to share and I felt it would be okay. You continuously seemed to outlast me in the tent, so you can handle us both, and we've been alone together for some time. We're actually pretty good friends now."

Harry continued to gape.

"Now get going," Luna said as she and Hermione hugged, knowing that, while they were about to be destroyed, they were about to be reborn as well. But from their own perspectives, or would it seem as though their younger selves just got future memories? Neither girl knew for sure.

Harry clenched his fist so tightly he drew blood, even though it shouldn't be possible here. "I swear, you will be reborn when I return." Closing his eyes, he instinctively thought back to when he had to destroy the diary and felt a searing pain in his arm and pained knees, completely missing the scene as his two girls were enveloped in flames. Opening his eyes, he saw the nearly resurrected form of Tom Riddle looking at him in fear as he brought his hand down, stabbing the basilisk's fang into the diary, continuing the motions of the body he reentered.

"No! AH!" Beams of light began to shoot through Riddle's body until he exploded into a maelstrom of colors.

Smirking, Harry looked at the diary, the first horcrux to die in the new war. "Ut victor ac victum vado exuviae ac bellum."

Magical resonations raced through the lands from Harry's body as he took control over all that had once belonged to Tom Marvolo Riddle as if it was his by right of birth, blood and magic. All properties, money, titles and oaths given to Tom Riddle or Voldemort now became Harry's, including magical gifts such as parslemouth and all oaths of allegiance from each and every one of his death eaters.

Harry felt the comforting weight of a family signet ring settle onto his ring finger, seeing the Slytherin coat of arms, followed by the Hufflepuff, who had once married into Slytherin's line, then the Gryffindor, now his by his own birth right along with the Ravenclaw that came from marriage to Gryffindor and finally, the Potter signet ring.

Harry coughed up a spurt of blood before Fawkes trilled and crooned, hopping over to Harry and crying into his wound. "Thanks Fawkes, I'd forgotten about that," he wheezed out, only just now realizing how close he was to death.

"Harry!" Ginny wailed, waking up now that the power going from her own soul to Riddle's rushed back into her.

Harry barely withheld killing the bitch. Again. "I'm okay, Ginny," he told her kindly, not wanting to make things different until he could put his plan into motion. He had decided on the best course of action and decided to go with it. It was going to probably cause a lot of problems, but it would also provide one of the strongest measures of support and safety. And it would just be fun as all hell.

"Take my hand," Harry commanded, getting an immediate response from the blushing girl. Harry may have found it cute if he hadn't realized all attraction to the girl was gone and if he could have gotten rid of the image of her killing Hermione out of his head. Once she did so, Harry apparated them within the wards of the school to where he knew Ron and the recently obliviated Lockhart waited.

"Oh, yea," Harry said, scaring the hell out of Ron as he noticed the amnesiac Defense Professor, "I'd forgotten about that fop."

"Harry! Don't scare me like that! How the hell did you get behind us?" Ron asked.

Harry shook his head. "Grab a hold of my shoulder, both of you," he said, getting a stupid grin from Lockhart.

"Do I know you?" The older man asked. Harry ignored him as all four of them apparated into the infirmary.

"Poppy!" Harry commanded, getting a startled yelp from the mediwitch who was in her office and hadn't heard Harry's silent apparition. Oh well, she'd learn.

xXxXxXx

As soon as Hermione entered the Great Hall for the party late that night, Harry was up in a flash and had her wrapped in a hug before she had taken two steps into the room and he kissed her solidly on the mouth for a brief moment before pulling back to look into her shocked, but very happy face as her eyes shone with an unnatural fire from within as the cry of a phoenix echoed through the castle. "I have something for you," he told her, drawing her into his mind and guiding her to her own memories that rushed back and into the girl. He let her become acclimated to them before sending her to her own mind and withdrawing into the real world where he saw her eyes dart about before she grinned fiendishly.

"Oh, Harry," she purred. "Once we get Luna, we have _got_ to go to the Room and celebrate."

"I've actually got another plan that may make you want to wait until after we return home. I'm going to go back to Potter Manor. I've-"

"Kissing your mudblood whore, Potter?" Draco Malfoy asked, looking at the duo with the rest of the Slytherins who all laughed.

Harry was not amused. "Draco Malfoy, for an assault of my fiancé's character, I challenge you to an honor duel after dinner tomorrow."

Every single Slytherin stopped laughing and looked at Harry with a mix of horror and shock. It was now widely known that the monster was a basilisk. Ron Weasley himself had talked about it and had explained that Potter had taken it out singlehandedly.

"What?" Draco shrieked.

"You heard him, Malfoy," Hermione sneered. Hearing the stories from Luna about the horrible things the blonde bastard had done to her made the brunette quiver in unholy rage. "Harry and I have decided to become betrothed and he's challenged you to a duel in my honor. You can either accept or decline, but I bet Daddy will be pissed with you for losing half of your assets without even trying to fight."

"Oh, I think we could let him off with a warning," Harry began. "If he's willing to kiss your feet," he finished with a smirk.

"You're on, Potter! And I'm going to have my godfather join my side! Being the last Potter and without family, I don't think you'll win," Draco sneered, not about to kiss the mudblood's feet. His table cheered.

"What is going on here?" McGonagall asked, wondering what was happening between her favorite lions and the Slytherins. She had seen the kiss and seriously doubted the Slytherins would be happy for them.

"I've challenged Draco to an honor duel for calling Hermione, whom I've recently asked to marry me-"

"And I've accepted," she added happily.

"A mudblood whore," Harry finished, making Minerva's eyes widen as both students acted like the twins and then as the words kicked in.

"YOU'VE WHAT?" She screeched.

"And he's accepted," Hermione again added gleefully, sounding frighteningly like the mad giggling of Bellatrix LeStrange. Both women did enjoy their revenge...

xXxXxXx

An hour before curfew the next night found Harry on one end of a dueling platform in the Great Hall, surrounded by cheering students and Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape on the other. Snape was the second for the Malfoy family, being Draco's godfather, but Lucius was taking his son's place as was his right as the head of the Malfoy family, capable of stepping in and taking the place of his familial subordinate in any action based on family honor; what little there was to be had in the Malfoy family, anyway. It was really only allowed if he were also willing to accept the punishment if he lost. The blonde patriarch had every intention of putting the Potter spawn in his place for stealing his house elf the day before and ruining his plans to return his dark lord to power.

Or so he thought.

"Duelers ready?" Flitwick asked.

"Ready," Harry barked out, not even pulling out his wand. He planned to show who was boss with a bang. Literally speaking.

"Hmph," Lucius grunted, smirking at Potter's audacity and taking the standard Pureblood dueling stance.

Flitwick nodded and then spoke more to the crowd than the participants, since they obviously knew what was happening. "This is an honor duel, meaning only the unforgivables are banned. Anything goes and it will not stop until one side is wholly unable to continue. BEGIN!"

Lucius sent the blood boiling hex at Harry, who dropped down and wandlessly cast a banishing charm powerful enough to look like a ball of air hurtling at Lucius and then launching him into the stone wall with a sickening crunch, despite cushioning charms. Harry then followed up with a lightning-quick chain of bone-breaking hexes to his knees, elbows and shoulders, an incontinence curse tied to Malfoy Senior's femur to hide it from medical scans, permanent transfiguration to the man's ribs to have little barbs hooking out under the skin for constant pain when moving, a concussive blast to put hairline fractures over all of his bones and a loose bowels hex, just for fun. Then the disgraced senior Malfoy finally fell to the ground without the weight of a large number of curses hitting him to keep him pressed against the wall. A few seconds of pitiful moans, Flitwick shakingly declared Lucius out and for Snape to advance.

The Great Hall was silent aside from a few students who messily and noisily shat themselves.

"Don't think you'll take me out so easily, Potter," Snape sneered, wondering what the hell just happened and making damn sure not to underestimate his opponent who hadn't even used a bloody wand. "I've been dueling since before your pathetic excuse for a father shagged your mother," he finished, hoping to get the brat's temper against him to try and get him to make mistakes.

_'Slow and painful,'_ Harry decided. _'He'll go out slow and painful.'_

"BEGIN!" Flitwick yelled, hopping back much more quickly this time.

Snape sent a quick series of three spells at Harry, who took control over them with his magic, spun them around himself as if they were on a rope and he was swinging them, and then sent them back at Snape who dodged, rather than blocked. The entire hall was silent as they all witnessed a duel that should have been impossible for a second year, even Harry Potter. Even the faculty was staring in shock and horror as the tiny second year student, _wandlessly_, started sending hex, curse and jinx after Snape who was forced to stay on the defensive. And that's not to say anything of the horror that was Lucius Malfoy slumped to the floor where no one was allowed to do anything to help him until the fighting was done.

Harry had decided he wasn't coming back for the next school year, so he didn't have to worry about hurt feelings or angry Potions teachers, so he didn't hold back. He sent bone breakers, banishing charms, explosion hexes, cutting curses and other such things that only a decade as the most successful Unspeakable would be able. No one had ever had anything like his own power level, even as young as he was, and no one had ever been as lethal as he was. He could have easily overpowered his curses to shatter the greasy-haired bastard's shields, but didn't want to kill him, just humiliate him.

For now.

Finally, Harry stopped moving all together and stuck both hands together, touching at the wrists and acting for all the world as if he were holding a large sphere as he brought his joined hands to his side at his waist while Snape gathered his breath, trying desperately to not get hit. The poor fool didn't even realize Harry had been taking it easy on him.

Then he saw a MASSIVE build-up of magic form in Harry's hands, crackling and hissing angrily like a bolt of lightning and getting brighter and then he had an idea that he was officially and royally screwed.

"HA!" Harry thrust his hands forward and a blast of magic shot out like a beam, hitting the potion's master and making him disappear. No explosion of light, no loud sound effects. He was simply gone.

Harry stood and faced Professor Flitwick who, like everyone else, was looking at the spot where Snape vanished in horror, and bowed. "Sir? I believe I've won?"

Flitwick looked at Harry in no small amount of fear. "Wh-what have you done to him, Mister Potter?"

"You'll find out in approximately five minutes," Harry said nonchalantly and as if he wasn't even winded, which many people noticed. "No one insults my girlfriend without being punished for it. He's done so for the last two years, so his had to be a little worse than Malfoy's."

"W-w-w-winner, Harry Potter," Flitwick said. Even during the diminutive professor's time on the dueling circuit, he hadn't seen something so horrifying, especially by someone who he had always believed fully to be a good, kind, caring and lenient boy.

"While I've got the moment, Luna?" Harry asked, looking at Luna Lovegood, whom he had not been able to find throughout the day since she was spending her time outside with the creatures she felt more comfortable with. While no one was sitting too close to her, those who were closest immediately scooted away.

"Yes, Harry?" She asked, knowing she had done nothing to him and felt she was safe. If Harry Potter wanted to do anything to her, he could do so at any time, and no one, apparently, would be able to stop him. So worrying didn't do much anyway.

"I have something for you that someone wanted me to give you. I'd like to do it now, because I've got an announcement to make afterwards. Will you come over here, please?"

Without hesitation, she did so. Whatever he wanted to do to her, he obviously had the power to accomplish, so she simply did as requested and knew that whatever was to come was to come as much of her life had been to that point in time. As she stepped up to him, Harry held out his hand, palm up, and focused all of the memories she had given him and created a memory sphere without the use of the crystal. He could have taken her into his mind, but this Luna didn't really know him too well and it required an amount of trust he wasn't sure she would have in him yet. It was a little more inelegant and would give her a very slight headache, but trying to bring her into his mind would be more painful if she didn't hold the trust in him that was needed.

"Will you take this?" He asked, obviously focusing hard.

She did so, the sound of a phoenix singing becoming louder as her hand approached the sphere until she finally touch it, and remembered. As she collapsed into his arms, she grunted in pain as almost twenty years of memories went where they belonged. "Bloody hell!" She called out as Harry held her up. Poppy was now tending to Lucius, where she had been from the moment Dumbledore dropped the shields to protect the spectators, and no one was willing to come too close to him, so no one interrupted them.

Draco was seething in impotent rage. Every few seconds, Madam Pomfrey would gasp and rush to try and cast one thing or another to work on his father and the man was moaning pitifully, obviously in pain, and all Draco wanted was to send a well-deserved killing curse into the middle of Harry's back. But he knew all he could do was wait.

And there were too many witnesses to do anything else, really. For now.

After a few more moments, Luna looked up in shock and then looked around before smiling and then kissing Harry. "Oh! It worked!" She exclaimed, looking around as everyone tried to figure out why the outcast was kissing Harry and why Hermione was smiling about it. Would there be another duel? Only a suicidal person would try to kiss a boy who just ... obliterated his enemies.

Harry chuckled and noticed Dumbledore coming towards him, albeit hesitantly, to speak to the young boy. "Can I help you, Dumbledore?" Harry asked with narrowed eyes and a cold voice that made the old man pause before coming the last few steps to Harry and the young girl he was still holding as she seemed distracted.

"Harry, my boy, I was hoping you could tell me what happened to Professor Snape and where you learned wandless magic," Dumbledore began, trying to find his way into Harry's mind to find out anything the boy hoped to keep secret or if perhaps the horcrux he suspected was in Harry's forehead had activated, but found himself not only hitting an impenetrable wall, but automated defenses that attacked his probe so viciously that his head jerked backwards slightly and he developed a migraine so severe he was nearly seeing double.

"As I said earlier, Snape will be back in a few minutes," Harry responded as Luna shook her head and used her new memories of occlumency to create one large, outside shell to defend her entire mind until she could sit and meditate to do a more thorough job of it. She briefly languished the fact that she was hiding from her tormentors that day so he couldn't find her.

"Yes, but where did you send-"

"Quiet," Harry demanded, getting Dumbledore to do as he was told for no other reason than the fact that Harry's tone and order shocked him that much.

Harry looked out over the students and saw the majority of them still remaining quiet in fear of his retaliation for the way they had been treating him over the year. "I know many of you aren't going to understand why I am about to do this, but I want you to know there are several reasons, many of which are to save lives and for protection. Not for me, but for everyone else. I know you'll be confused about this and I apologize for that, but I'll tell you now that there is a reason for it. But, because of the nature of it, I can't explain myself yet."

Harry took a step forward and squared his shoulders, looking oddly impressive at twelve years old and radiating such confidence, though it could have easily been the fact that he obliterated two opponents without even drawing his wand only moments before, that no one dared ask what he was about to do. "I, Lord Harry James Potter, last scion to the houses of Potter, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor call in the life debts to all female students currently at Hogwarts that I received last night for stopping the basilisk. I hereby claim you as mine in body, heart, mind, soul and magic as my slaves-"

"WHAT!" Several faculty voices screeched.

"-Until such a time as I release you of my own volition, free of coercion and of sound mind. So mote it be."

Silence. Shocked, horrified silence met Harry's actions as many within the Great Hall realize that the girls and young women around them now belonged to Harry Potter as his _slaves_. Even now, brief flashes of light twinkled in the room as choke collars appeared around feminine necks, marking the girls as Potter Property. No one there knew what to say or do. It was so surreal that many couldn't even do such a simple thing as think. They were too caught up in the moment to respond properly.

And into that silence, Severus Snape reappeared right where he had been when struck with Harry's beam of light and the man, dressed in all black as always, slumped to his knees with his shoulders and arms hanging limply with steam rising from his clothes. Many of the students saw the air above the man wavering which told them all that his body was steaming because it was scalding hot, which was only confirmed seconds later as Dumbledore attempted to touch the man and pulled back with a yelp.

Severus Snape curled into the fetal position and began to weep.

"Severus! What happened!" Dumbledore asked, causing Snape to look up at the man with eyes seen in children facing horrors they couldn't even fathom.

Immediately, Snape began screaming as if he wasn't seeing Dumbledore, but was seeing something no one else could and it horrified him. The Potions Master scuttled backwards as quickly as he could until he hit the wall, still screaming like he were _attempting_ to shred his vocal chords, then he got up and ran out the door in the corner by the staff table, his terrified screams remaining for nearly a minute before fading, but not really stopping. The faint cries could be heard the rest of the night.

Wide eyes of almost everyone in the room turned to Harry, silently asking what the hell he had just done, though Dumbledore was more vocal about it. "What did you do to him?" Albus asked loudly, his tone horrified but firm and providing challenge to Harry to try and defy him.

"Severus Snape was the death eater who heard about the prophecy that caused mine and one other's parents to be murdered and delivered it to his master. Rather than kill him, which anyone is legally still allowed to do regarding marked death eaters, I sent him to limbo where spirits from either side can enter to speak to him. It seems there was at least one who wasn't happy to see him. Though that makes sense considering you have to commit cold-blooded murder to gain the Dark Mark since it requires a necromantic ritual."

Dumbledore shifted his gaze to the students as they began to murmur amongst each other about Harry's story and decided to try to get their attentions on the boy again rather than Severus. "Why have you enslaved every young woman in Hogwarts, Harry? Don't you believe that is dark, considering you haven't given any of them the chance to decline?"

"Yea!" Susan Bones yelled out, standing at the Hufflepuff table. "I was one of the ones who believed you weren't the Heir of Slytherin, but you just made me your slave!" Others began to shout similar sentiments, though almost all of them were lying about having believed in him.

Harry held up a hand and all of the girls found themselves silenced. Not because of any magic he used, but because they understood he was telling them to do so and felt obligated to obey him. "I told you all that I had a good reason, and that's true. First, I'm going to have each and every one of you living in Potter Manor. It's a rather large mansion with a library that rivals that of Hogwarts easily, is protected by even better safety wards, which is proven by the fact that no one has ever broken onto our grounds but we've had multiple life and death situations here, you'll all have your own bedrooms and bathrooms and there is more to this that I won't tell you quite yet."

"You make it sound like you're trying to protect us, but what if we feel like we're already safe?" Daphne Greengrass asked, trying to sound neutral even as she nervously tugged on her new collar. In truth, she was furious as all hell, but she was one of the ones who worried that Harry would want some form of revenge; the type of revenge that males could deliver to females that hormonal teenagers were sure to consider. "How do we know you aren't just saying these things and plan on shagging us as soon as you're able?"

"Miss Greengrass!" McGonagall shrieked. "Watch your language! Mister Potter, explain yourself at once!"

Harry glared at his Head of House, making her step back in shock. "I have no intentions to explain myself to you," he growled out.

"Why not?" McGonagall asked in shock.

"I don't trust you," Harry said, shrugging. "You sent a group of first years into the Forbidden Forest _at night_ for detention for being out after curfew when you knew something dangerous was roaming the place that was dark, since it was killing unicorns, and it was obviously fast, since it could actually _catch_ those same unicorns with only Hagrid who was using a crossbow, which is slower than a unicorn. Not to mention the defenses for the Stone you guys were hiding here were weak as hell in the first place that three first year students could bypass them. And when we tried to warn you that the stone was going to be stolen, you basically told us to shut up and ignore the situation because your oh so mighty defenses were strong enough and didn't even listen to hear how we found out or why we believed that."

"Then," he continued, still glaring, "you obviously didn't check Lockhart's credentials throughout the year at all when he flubbed every spell he tried in public when it is just as much your duty as Dumbledore's to protect the students and ensure quality teachers and education. He specifically told us that he was a master of mind spells and that he used them to steal stories from others and claim them as his own. As obvious as he was in preening under the attentions of the female population, I'd _seriously_ recommend checking for mental tampering on any he may have taken advantage of."

Nervous murmurs rose from the crowd of girls in the Great Hall and Harry decided to continue. "But, since I know you'll probably ignore that situation like everything else, I decided to take all the girls so I could make sure they get checked over and get any help they need while letting them train to be whatever the hell they want to be. For OWL's and NEWT's, I can arrange for them to take them at a later time of their choosing as well. Since few women can advance in this bloody society, and only purebloods with power can, I decided I'll help them on all counts."

"Why just the girls, Potter?" Percy asked indignantly. He wanted to get in on some of that, too!

"Enough!" Dumbledore finally yelled out, having been shocked senseless too deeply to stop Harry's rants of their failings the past two years, but this had to stop now! "Mister Potter will renounce these contracts and-"

"No I won't," Harry said, snorting in derision. "I'm doing exactly what you made sure I would do when you left me with the Dursleys. We'll be leaving tonight to Potter Manor and then we will take measures to alert everyone's families and-"

"Mister Potter," Dumbledore barked out. "You will renounce-"

"If you're going to demand that I renounce their contracts, then you can address me as your Lord Potter!" Harry growled out as his magic created an aura around him and pulsed to create a wind in the air. "You left me with the Dursleys who beat me almost every day, starved me and left me locked in a cupboard under the stairs for ten bloody years, Dumbledore, and you _knew_ what they were doing to me! You even had a squib spying on me to keep tabs on the situation. I know _everything_ you want to remain hidden from me and as soon as I get the girls situated at Potter Manor, I'll be taking measures to ensure their safety from _you_ and your breeding registry!"

"What breeding registry?" McGonagall shrieked indignantly, followed by several nodding female heads in the audience.

"That will be enough Mister-" Dumbledore tried to say, getting cut off as Harry began to let out far more secrets than anyone should know about. He didn't even have this registry written down or spoken of to anyone! It was ONLY in his mind! And Harry knowing it meant only one thing, and Dumbledore couldn't help but to be worried that such a young boy was able to enter his mind.

"Dumbledore plans on setting up various pureblood lines with muggleborn or half-blood lines to stop the inbreeding problem and-"

"ENOUGH!" Dumbledore yelled, flaring his own magical aura. "Mister Potter! You will cease your inane ramblings! I don't know what has happened to you, but you are speaking nonsense!"

"Willing to swear that on your life, old man?" Hermione asked as multiple eyes widened at the brunette muggleborn's audacity at calling out the most powerful wizard alive, title pending depending on Harry's future and the way this played out, of course.

"Albus, Lucius needs to go to St Mungo's if he's to be healed," Pomfrey called from the wall, uncaring of the action happening behind her. As long as this breeding program wasn't occurring at Hogwarts, she really didn't care right then.

"What was done to him?" Dumbledore asked, wondering at Harry's new abilities and what he may have learned to do without the Headmaster noticing.

"His joints have been shattered, his bones fractured, an incontinence curse that is making him sterile until magical castration, loose bowels hex that keeps repeating its actions and his ribs have been transfigured to have tiny little hooks sticking outwards like thorns on a rose. I can't fix his ribs and his joints without stabilizing agents I simply don't have here at the school."

Draco's hand, which had been stroking his wand, quickly moved away, lest he give himself ideas to use it as McGonagall approached and checked the man's ribs. "Permanent transfiguration! Mister Potter! How dare you!"

"Oh yes," Harry snarked, "how could I bring a death eater pain."

"Renounce your life debts, Mister Potter, or-"

"All female students are to return to their dorms and pack all of their belongings," Harry ordered, ignoring Dumbledore's raging. "Anyone who has any of Luna's things _will_ return them to her before we leave or you will beg for a similar fate as Snape."

One could almost smell the freshly released bowels within the room.

"House elves is being much faster, Master Harry," Dobby spoke up, popping in next to his new Master. "We is being able to make sure all the girlses things is being brought here so none of them is being stuck here." Dobby worked for a spectacular master now. He had even already had elf-sized clothing to give to Dobby so he could dress himself however he wanted, whenever he wanted, without being shameful. Anything he could do to make things easier and faster for his master, he would do as soon as possible. Even helping him get his new 'girlses' home as quickly as possible.

Hermione smiled smugly as she put her wand away, watching Ron squirm in his seat as her curse found him, stopping his male development where he was at and, much like Malfoy Senior, soon to magically castrate him, turning him into a eunuch, doing the same to Draco and many of the males at the Slytherin table.

It was that many less that could ever do what they had done in the future that now wouldn't happen, whatever it took.

"Harry," Dumbledore strode forward, pleading with Harry to stop this madness.

"Aren't you the one who believes 'love' is the "Power He Knows Not"?" Harry asked quietly, stopping Dumbledore and getting a shocked look on the old man's face. Harry knew the old man truly believed that. While the man was light, he truly was a pureblood advocate. Not that he believed the dogma of Voldemort and his ilk, but he believed instead that there was some form of social hierarchy and, throughout the past, he had seen purebloods, by and large, succeed better in their world. The old man, simply put, was steeped in tradition and felt the lines should continue, but not inbreed.

"How?" Dumbledore began, quaking where he stood. Whether he wanted to know how Harry knew about the prophecy, or how Harry had apparently managed to get into his head since that was the only conceivable way, no one would know.

Harry shook his head sadly. "I have my family, Dumbledore. I love them and I will ensure they live happily and fulfilled lives. I've learned my lessons." Then Harry wrapped an arm around Hermione and Luna's waists and led all of the girls out of the hall.

xXxXxXx

[Author's Note:] I'm sure you may wonder what about their kids in the 'future'? Basically, it hasn't hit them yet.

This is meant to be the start of a one-shot, but in writing it, it would become extremely long for that, so I figure I may post this and keep the rest I've got until I'm done with it. I expect about a hundred thousand words or so and it should be finished. A short one, yes, but still.

What was the phoenix song? Did the girls really come back? What are the repercussions of everything? Well, that'll ALL be answered when I continue this. Anything left open is something I plan to focus in the whole post.

One thing to mention, Harry has NO intentions of doing anything naughty with ANYONE but Hermione and Luna. Ginny is enslaved, yes. She hasn't done anything evil yet, and they haven't done anything to her. Is she mentally scarred for what happened or just pure out evil? Well, I'll tell you know, it's the first. The Ginny at the start is NOT who Ginny really is. She's broken. I wanted to get that across now.

Last thing I'll let you know is that it won't be only girls leaving with Harry.

Questions? Review and ask. I'll probably answer as long as you let me know what you think of this as well. If it's purely a question, I probably won't (unless I know your work and respect it, then I probably would.)

Paladeus


	10. When I Grow Up

**Title**: When I Grow Up

**Ship**: Harry/Hermione, Harry/Hermione/Luna

**Rating**: T

**Genre**: Comedy, Romance, Adventure

**Warnings**: OOC!Hermione/Harry ... Well, OOC everyone, Adult innuendo, Lots of kissing and suggestive concepts

**Tags**: World domination, Dark Lady Hermione & Luna, Dark Lord Harry, Fluff, Comedy, Guardian

**Characters**: Harry, Hermione, Luna, Merlin, Morgana Le Fey

**Key**: "Speech", _'Thought'_, **"Speech laden with magic"**

**Summary**: It had always started out as a joke. But joking about taking over the world had eventually led into wondering what it would be like to actually accomplish it. Then, the desire to actually try. Hermione Granger was a very intelligent girl. Intelligent, and ambitious.

**All omakes** at the end of this are story-related except the last one, which was a request. Rather than tell a whole story (at least for now, though that could always change,) I am simply showing interesting scenes throughout. I may also add more to this at a later date with more omakes as a separate entry.

xXxXxXx

Dark brown eyes diligently watched the crowd around King's Cross, looking for any sign of their target. These chocolate eyes, and the parents that had created them, were sitting by a bench that overlooked Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, waiting for the boy she had found in the computer system at her parents' work.

For much of the little girl's life, her parents had always pushed their daughter to excel and be the best that she could, always telling her they would be proud of anything she did and that nothing, _nothing_, was beyond her reach if she wanted to try hard enough. At the tender age of three, when a mind is quite malleable and developing the foundation for what it would become in the future, she had asked if she could become a princess, and later a queen.

The good-natured humoring a parent would provide for their children rarely took a course such as it did with Hermione Granger.

Becoming a queen had led to ruling a country. But why stop there? Why not rule more and more? The little girl had asked her parents if she could become queen of the country. Then the world.

"If you try hard enough," they had told her. "If you work hard and apply yourself as hard as possible in everything you do, then anything is possible." Hermione was so happy that she even promised her parents Australia, a country that they had been wanting to visit for years, but had neglected to travel to.

It had become something of a running joke in their family. Hermione would make plots and plans, writing up elaborate methods by which she would take over the world, first in crayon, then pen, but had been rather disappointed to learn you had to be an adult to acquire an army.

That was, of course, until she learned of a place called 'primary school' where there were a bunch of little minions just waiting to be bent to her will. After her first year, however, and many trips to a woman who seemed to control the faculty with an iron fist, Hermione learned there was yet more opposition to ruling the world.

Then she also got in trouble for her use of the word 'bugger'. Apparently, little girls aren't meant to say such things.

Since then, she learned everything she could and did the best she could, yearning for the day she could be a true queen again. She had to release her preschool class from her service once the women in charge had learned what she had done. It was fun while it lasted, though.

But then an old, stern, Scottish woman had come to her home on her eleventh birthday and told her about a wonderful world of magic! Learning of their culture and that they had bookstores, Hermione used every bit of her saved allowance, which was in a box entitled "minion fund", and bought books on the wizarding world and on those she learned had tried to rule the world before her, called Lords and Ladies. Well, they used the term dark, but of course they would! To become their ruler, you had to dominate them! That was the point!

And she rather liked the black corset look...

She had also learned that they didn't watch for underage magic use until after you started Hogwarts, it seemed. She had been practicing spells since the day of her birthday since she had managed to get her parents to take her to get her books and wand.

And it was then, in several of her books, that she had learned about Harry Potter.

Harry Potter, it seemed, was quite powerful. Even as a toddler, barely a year old, he had somehow beaten the last dark lord who had killed his family. Hermione knew that was just too much power to be at odds against. Regardless of how any of it had happened, which was never quite clear.

Therefore, it only made sense to turn him into an ally. Someone who had been stopping dark lords since he was one couldn't be expected to _not_ stop a dark lady, after all.

Those same books had said that the leader of the light, a goofy-looking man named Albus Dumbledore who had apparently been caught doing a horrible thing to a goat, had hidden Harry away in the non-magical world. Hermione was intelligent. If Harry was in that world, he went to school. If he went to school, then he had public records.

So she found them.

Through judicious use of puppy dog eyes, a magical power she had known about for quite a long time, and begging her father, who has long-since been her oldest minion and always wrapped around her finger, she was able to find him and learn about him. The real him. Not the one printed about in books sold to the public that spoke of great feats of bravery and powerful magics. It was really quite sad.

Harry Potter was a slave. A minion to his aunt and uncle where they used him like a common servant. Hermione strongly wanted to go in there and turn them all into toads!

But she hadn't learned to do that yet.

No. Harry Potter was this cute little thing with dreamy eyes that made her decide that she didn't just want an ally. If she were to be a queen, she realized there was something very, very important she would need to succeed.

A king.

Thus, with the sudden surge of hormones and childishly lecherous thoughts as she saw the boy work, Hermione Granger realized, she needed a boyfriend. And the boy with the pretty green eyes and lopsided smile, which she had seen when he saw a family walk down the road, was just the one she selected. Harry Potter was all of the things she knew she would want in a boyfriend: powerful, smart, knew how to cook and clean, very handsome, if a touch on the scrawny side. He would have to be trained to have a backbone and to be a good boyfriend, probably not to hunch his back, too, but she saw a lot of potential in him.

And that was what led her to stand with her parents outside of the portal to the magical side of the station.

Hermione Granger was gonna bag herself a husba- er, boyfrie- er, ... well, she was gonna catch him. She wasn't totally sure what she was going to do with him, yet. She knew she would need a king, and she may as well go with the one boy her own age she knew would best be able to help her. After all, she could help him, too, by letting her parents submit all the information she had found on Harry's apparent relatives and, when they couldn't account for the boy when the authorities would come knocking, he would be free of them. And through him, she would gain his fame to begin acquiring minions, though she knew she would have to share them with him. Sharing was important and, once married, her minions would be his minions, and the opposite held true. She would just have to find out if that was what he wanted, first.

But still, every important woman needed a champion to fight under her banner. Even if he turned out to not be good boyfriend material, then he would be a great and powerful warrior for her.

Then she saw him! He was walking along with a giant of a man who gave him a ticket and then left, leaving the boy to look confused and then ask one of the station guards something, showing off his shiny ticket. The guard obviously got upset and then walked off, not bothering to help him. _'That's not right,'_ Hermione thought to herself. Obviously, Harry Potter had no idea where the entrance was.

Hermione walked the few dozen feet over to Harry and stuck out her hand. "Hermione Granger. Are you new to Hogwarts? I saw your ticket."

Relief flooded Harry's eyes as he warily took the girl's hand, making Hermione's focus turn to his emerald greens, fascinated by how vivid they were. "Yes. I don't suppose you know where the platform is?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes. It's hidden so non-magicals can't find it," she said, dragging him along to meet her parents as any prospective boyfriend was supposed to. While she didn't know if he would meet up to her standards yet, it was still only the polite thing to do! "Mum, Dad. This is Harry. Harry, this is my mum and dad."

"Er, hello," Harry offered, wondering where the platform was and trying to remember when he gave the girl his name. "I'm Harry Potter."

"Pleased to meet you, Harry," the taller woman said, hunkering down to look at the boy's eyes. They really were something special. "I'm Morgan. This is Emrys."

"Hello," Emrys said, shaking Harry's hand and making a mental note of the callouses. He had seen the boy working when he took his daughter to see where he lived, but something told him it wasn't simple house work that caused those hands to be a bit rough like that. House work didn't give you callouses.

"We should be going. We don't want to miss the train," Hermione said, hugging her parents one last time and then dragging her trunk to a brick pillar where she explained the portal to Harry. "Professor McGonagall says there are charms to make non-magicals not notice anything magical or strange happening around here. We just walk through that wall under the clock. It's an illusion to look like brick, but it's actually a door to take us to the other side." To show him, she simply walked through, pushing her trunk ahead of her, just in case.

Harry blinked a moment before looking at Hermione's parents with a bewildered expression. "Wouldn't a door have worked?" Sighing, he pushed after her, calling out a last minute thank you to the adults.

"It _is_ a little curious that she was born into a time and age where someone like _him_ was around to be with her, no?" Emrys asked, no longer pretending to not see the door his wonderful daughter had run through.

Morgan snorted daintily. "Don't look at me. It was your own little swimmers that broke through our perfect protection. Or at least it had been for the past thousand years."

"Ah, my sweet Morgana," Emrys said, slipping into the cultured tones he had grown up with as his arms snaked around her waist. "You know you longed for motherhood and you were just as thrilled with this as I. I told you the odds were one in a billion. It wasn't my fault that we simply caught up to them."

"Oh great and powerful Merlin," Morgana teased, "even after a millennium, your lusts haven't abated."

"For you my dear, never! What do you say we give another sighting like we did in the good old days, hm? First one to be recognized selects our dining location tonight?"

"Catch me if you can, magic man!" Morgana smirked and disappeared in black flames.

xXxXxXx

When Harry got to the other side, he saw Hermione waiting for him, very few people milling about since the train still wouldn't be scheduled to leave for another three hours yet. Vernon hadn't been about to take being late into work just for the freak of the household and making the boy wait, possibly to be kidnapped, was too great an incentive to get him there early. Hermione and her parents just believed in being plenty early and Hermione had been wanting to wait for the boy.

"Would you like to share a compartment?" Hermione asked, now a little more nervous that she was in unfamiliar territory and didn't have her parents just behind her. Her voice, which had been confident and a little bossy was now somewhat vulnerable and pleading.

Harry took to it like a lifeline. "That'd be nice." He followed the strange little girl through the train, wondering at his new friend. Her hair was rather bushy, but then again, his wasn't all that cooperative, either. She had shiny brown eyes that, oddly, made him hungry. He assumed it was because they reminded him of the chocolate he would sometimes get from school or old Mrs Figg. Her teeth were a little large, but well-kept and she had a wonderful smile because of them. Oddly, she was about five inches taller than he was. He would, through talking with her later, learn that she was almost a year older than him.

She moved with little of the awkwardness that was in little kids. Her apparent core nature seemed to be transferred to her limbs and every action was performed as if she held no possible reservation in them as some would as she put her full being into each action, each movement. She knew her reach, she knew her abilities, and she put her all into even the littlest of things.

He didn't recognize that on a conscious level, of course, but he noted it, all the same. The only thing he really consciously noted was that she smiled at him and seemed to want to be his friend.

"So, again, I'm Hermione Granger, future ruler and princess of the world. My parents are non-magical dentists. Have you practiced any magic over the summer?" Hermione asked as she sat, making Harry a little nervous at the sudden bombardment of questions. That was okay though, since he would be less likely to think up a lie.

Well, it was okay for _her_. He'd have probably had an objection if he'd considered it.

"Er. I'm Harry Potter. I'm ... er, not a future anything. My parents were both magical, I think, but they're dead now." Harry said, trying to keep up with the bundle of girly energy in front of him. She had an ... essence, or feel about her that was drawing him in. She seemed to honestly want him around and that made her the first person he had ever met that made him simply feel as though he belonged or was wanted. He _liked_ it. "Er, why do you want to rule the world?"

Hermione's dark brown eyes blinked. "Well, I suppose every girl wants to be a princess, right?" She asked, getting an unsure nod. "Well, I'm not royalty, but my parents always told me I can be anything I want to be if I try hard enough."

"That ... sounds nice," Harry said quietly and with more than a touch of wistful in his expression. "I was always told I'd be lucky if I made it through puberty." He couldn't figure out why he wanted to talk to this girl, or share anything that happened before that morning, but it felt nice talking to this girl.

Hermione's expression softened as she moved over next to him and enveloped him in a hug. "You _are_ worth something, Harry. You can be anything you want to be, too! Anyone can! You just have to want something more than anyone else in case they want it, too! I mean, if you want to rule the world, and another person does too, then only one of you can. So you just have to try harder. Do you know what you _want_ to be?"

Harry shook his head negatively after a scant second of reasoning. "I'm pretty good at cooking, so I suppose I could be a chef. I'm also okay at gardening-"

"No," Hermione shook her head. "Those are things you know how to do and anyone can do. But what you _want_, and what you _desire_, those are what we should grow up and try our hardest for! You don't have to decide now, after all. We're still young. I know what I want. I'll help you to be what you want, too, as long as it isn't to rule the world," she said with a bright grin, showing a mouth full of perfect white teeth.

Harry smiled. "I'd like that. I'll help you, too," he promised. Maybe some time down the road, he'd be able to have a family. What he wanted? He didn't really know. But one thing he had always desired was a family.

"Really? Great! I was actually going to ask about that," Hermione said, hugging Harry tightly. "I've also got books about your family I'll let you borrow. It may give you ideas. I don't know how much of it is real, though, because none of them were right about you."

"My family?" Harry asked, surprised. "And, what were you wanting to ask?"

Hermione, unlike Harry, was having no trouble whatsoever in keeping up with Harry's questions. "Yea! There's a whole section in the book store related to you and families in the wizarding world! I got some and I'll loan them to you!" Hermione said, spinning in the seat so she could face Harry. "And I was going to ask if you wanted to help me rule the world, but you already said you would," she said happily, hugging him again.

"But, every princess needs a champion or knight! So, you would be my protector! And when I rule the world, I'll be a _queen_! So, I'll need a king, naturally, so you can be my boyfriend, too! I'll be your girlfriend, too, so we'll be best friends and always there for each other!"

A part of Harry was desperately wanting more information about his parents, while an even larger part still couldn't help but hear that simple statement echoing loudly and proudly in his head: _"We'll be best friends and always there for each other!"_ Something within him, buried deep down, bruised and beaten, stirred to life. Some part of him that had nearly been destroyed with the Dursleys chose to accept this freely-offered friendship, and whatever the rest meant, and cultivate it with a nurturing power the likes of which his aunt Petunia's garden would envy even in Plant Heaven (which he would later learn was the greenhouse that belonged to a plump woman named Sprout, of all things.)

"Deal," Harry said with a grin. "And it seems like that's going to be an important job. Maybe I'll make that what I want in life. To get to that same place with you. I promise I'll try really hard to be the best champion ever for you. I won't ever let anything hurt you, Empress," he finished with a strange little smirk that would forever be for only his new queen or those who were about to perish under his wand. This was like one of those King Arthur stories, or the ones about the Knights of the Round Table! Or whatever! He couldn't remember the things about knights and magic he had only ever half-heard in passing since any books or talks about them would be a sure beating with the Dursleys.

Hermione blushed at what was to be her new pet name from Harry. "Er, thank you, my Champion," she said, feeling a powerful warmth trying to burst from her heart. "You realize no champion or knight can suffer at the hands of an enemy, right? And that's what the Dursleys are. So, if you want, I can get my parents to make sure you never have to go back. You might even be able to stay the summers with us."

_'No more Dursleys?'_ Harry thought. _'The only things touching my queen are going to be things she wants touching her. Anything else gets crushed. Messily.'_ The strength of the feelings Harry had at that moment terrified even him with the fierce protectiveness of this bushy-haired goddess, as he was sure she could be nothing less. He would crush armies beneath her feet at this point.

Thankfully, she wasn't cruel. She just wanted a shiny seat, shiny scepter, the pretty dresses (as she already obtained a black corset while in Diagon Alley that she couldn't _wait _to try on for her real instead of her mirror) and possibly Sarah Jenkins from primary school as her court jester. That girl was a horrible bully!

And maybe a petting zoo, too.

"I'd like that," Harry finally told the girl, letting the feelings of happiness and relief crash against him like waves. "When do we start?"

"Well, I was always taught that when you have a goal, you should put your all into it," Hermione explain, looking thoughtful. "It's how I've managed to learn so much and why I know all the things I do. I've even been able to get some of the kids from the schools I went to before to be my minions, but the staff forced me to let them go," she grumbled. "But, I found out that it's perfectly acceptable to have minions or slaves in the wizarding world! But we have to treat them well! They may be slaves and forced to do our bidding, but we'll pay them fair wages and give them a health plan! My parents would never forgive me if I didn't make sure they had a good dental plan."

"So, how do we start now?" Harry asked excitedly. "If I'm going to be the best to protect you, then the sooner I start, the better! I wasn't even allowed to open my books, so I really don't know what to do. And I have no clue how to be a knight or a champion or a boyfriend." He blushed at the end. Of course, so did Hermione.

"Well, I've seen some dating movies and older kids who date. The boys just protected them and they kissed a lot," she said through an ever-increasing blush and grin.

"But I don't know how to kiss," Harry complained.

"Practice makes perfect," Hermione said before she pounced.

xXxXxXx

"The boy latched onto his role almost immediately," Emrys said with wide eyes. He and Morgan were, perhaps unfairly, listening in on their daughter's conversation. Well, they were listening to a lot of slurping and smacking noises once the conversation had ended. Had they not known their little girl's plan from the beginning, they'd be rather worried about that. To say nothing if they were a little older.

"Well, his Persona _is_ that of a Guardian, my dear," Morgan said with a dark smirk as she sipped her wine. Her dear husband had gone out in full-bore regalia with the long beard, staff and an aura of power, causing his name to be muttered in shock. Whether because they recognized him or deified him, she couldn't be sure. She still planned on getting him back for it.

"I'm telling you, it can't be a coincidence that our little girl has a world domination fetish _and_ the first Guardian we've encountered in six hundred years are going to school with one another." Emrys continued to massage his wife's feet, trying to appease her temper for his apparently bad joke earlier.

"Perhaps not. But I'm thankful for it all the same," Morgan said as she tilted her head back and allowed the wine to put her into a wonderful mellow. This was a stock that was older than the school their daughter was going to, but they felt it only appropriate to drink something special to toast their daughter's milestone. "Since we've allowed ourselves to fade into obscurity, she shall be considered a muggleborn child. Their foolish notions of purity would see her harmed or mocked because of this. I do not see this boy allowing it, now."

"_Kissing is bloody brilliant!"_ The two heard from the charm on the pendant Morgan was wearing, which held their end of the charm cast on Hermione's necklace. Apparently, their daughter had just come up for air and the boy had taken that moment to let his thoughts be known.

"No," Emrys stated. "No, I don't think he will." For some reason, all Emrys was thinking at that moment was that this boy had better know his manners. Dumbledore was famed for forgetting more magic than most people learned in their lifetime. Emrys never forgot anything.

"Really?" Morgan laughed throatily, sounding very highly amused. "Oh, Emrys! Don't tell me you are falling prey to that stereotypical father obsession!"

"And why not?" Emrys asked, sounding affronted. "She _is_ my daughter and I have always been honest with her. I support her in any possible thing she could ever strive for. If it is world domination, so be it. If it is to capture this boy, fine! But I _will_ make sure he is proper for her."

"Emrys," Morgan said carefully, "we have sworn to never alter a person's personality. And he's a Guardian, at that. He would be immune to the mind magics that would be required unless his Will has been completely shattered with his upbringing."

"Not what I meant, love," Emrys told her, crawling up to taste the wine that glistened on her lips. He pulled back with a smirk. "I just mean I'm going to ... correct ... that which has been broken. Also, if he's going to be protecting my little girl, I may as well enhance his natural talents."

"Emrys! They're children!" Morgan scolded.

"Not _those_ ones," Emrys corrected, looking disgusted. "Good gods, woman! I have no intention of helping a boy in _that_ regard with _my_ daughter!"

xXxXxXx

Emrys gave all of the boys a minute after they closed their curtains before he cast a massive wave of magic that caused them all to sleep deeply enough to be legally considered dead. It was ten o'clock, and the new Prefect, Persimmon or something, was dead-set on getting all the first-years into bed by curfew, shining his badge the whole way.

Once all was quiet, he opened the curtains nearest the window and smiled as he saw the sleeping boy that his daughter had spent two and a half hours kissing, with occasional breaks to talk and get to know one another.

He should know. He had to listen to the whole bloody thing.

Still, he couldn't allow the negligence that had befallen the boy continue or remain. This was a Guardian. Some souls, a rare few, were created with various core principles. Most people did what they wanted, striving for whatever struck their fancy before eventually giving up, not wanting to put the work into it to accomplish. Their daughter, for example, was one of these. However, with a nurturing environment, she grew to be a strong-willed girl who strove for excellence in every single thing she did.

That was another thing that had him gnashing his teeth as the kissing session continued. There were _far_ too many surprised squeaks to have been completely innocent, he thought.

But this wasn't about scaring away potential suiters. At least not yet.

This boy, as a Guardian, had a soul whose natural inclination was that of a protector and warrior, one who strove for his very own sense of purpose and Justice. A lesser man could have fallen victim to his upbringing and that sense of Justice would have been warped and twisted until he felt Justice was towards the betterment of a single class, species or somehow segregated part of society, such as Pureblood or the poor. However, his own sense of Justice and a little self-worth had made him push away from such a thing when it meant becoming like those who raised him.

And now he had selected to protect his little girl. Emrys could honestly say he was okay with that.

However, the boy was small for his age, and a bit on the scrawny side. That was one of the things Emrys was here for. He waved his hand, divesting the sleeping boy of all his clothes and then closed his eyes, channeling power and accepting what the school, able to sense what this boy was, began to offer him.

Harry Potter, over the course of the next hour, slowly gained seven inches of height and grew thirteen pounds of muscle, which would stretch his skin just enough to look somewhat impressive on an eleven-year old. His previously broken bones healed and became far stronger in such a way that steel was. His hearing wasn't touched upon, as growing up in a quiet cupboard had actually improved those beyond average, though his vision was going to be a pain to fix and would have to wait.

Maybe whenever the boy suffered an inevitable head injury, Emrys could return. Worst-case scenario, Emrys would tweak a few emotions and have someone whack him upside the head, which would also give the boy reason to let off steam if necessary.

Emrys _really_ didn't want his daughter to help out with such a thing, quite yet. She seemed far too ready to give kisses whenever Harry spoke of things that bothered him or related to his past. It also didn't help that the boy was getting more comfortable talking about it, either.

After adding in some basic elemental protection to the boy's body again heat and cold, Emrys looked down and sighed. "I'm going too soft," he mumbled to himself. "You had better protect my little girl, Harry. Her mother and I had already established ourselves as muggle and were looking for a good few decades away from magic for a while, so we're going to be keeping an eye out, but because of who you are, and because we have to let her grow on her own, we're trusting you with her and her safety. But because of that, I'm not about to take chances, either. Just please don't tell Morgana or she'll cut me off again." Since he was sleeping and couldn't hear anyway, Emrys didn't mind telling the truth. But even with that knowledge of unconscious oblivion, he wasn't about to say what he was going to get cut off from.

Instead, Emrys held out his right hand as though holding a ball and channeled his own incredible power, copying some of his knowledge and pooling that in his open palm where a blue-white light glowed brilliantly like a jewel made of light. In it, he put the basic rules of potion-making, charms, transfiguration and combat, along with the true nature of magic so he could learn to harness wandless magic as quickly as possible, hopefully ensuring Hermione's good health.

Then he shoved it all up Harry's nose.

Emrys leaned down as the information was being assimilated into Harry's mind, becoming his own. "Protect my princess, Harry," he said quietly. Then he waved his hand, giving Harry back his clothes and removing the enchantment from all of the lifeforms in the dormitory before disappearing.

xXx **Omake** **Theater** xXx

**Omake 1: How it started**

One week.

All it had taken was one week of Harry affectionately calling Hermione 'Princess' before half of Gryffindor, oddly all of Hufflepuff, eleven Ravenclaws and two highly cautious Slytherins before Hermione realized she and Harry had acquired their first minions. Though, most of the females had taken to Harry. Apparently, the new clothes he had purchased for himself shrank in the wash and were a bit tight in the chest. And the way he doted on Hermione seemed to have them all googly-eyed.

One week and one day before she obtained her first two 'Fools', redheaded twins who looked shocked when they woke up in hats with pointy tips with bells on them, to say nothing of the curly shoes with bells.

It was one week, one day, and one hour before they were dancing and entertaining their princess with her strong-armed enforcer, boyfriend or ... well, they honestly didn't bother discussing what he was. Only what making Princess Hermione happy made Scary Harry happy.

One week, one day, one hour and twenty minutes before the royal duo were in the Headmaster's office with the various heads of house.

"Miss Granger, you cannot go about, taking all of the various children as your minions," Dumbledore tried to explain to the girl.

"Bugger!" She wasn't a little girl anymore. That was obvious because she didn't get in trouble for saying it. _'One step closer to world domination!'_

"Obviously, she can," Harry stated simply. "She has done so, and not a single one was forced into their service."

"Mister Potter," Dumbledore sighed, holding up a hand to keep Severus Snape from saying something that would get him beat up by the first-year student again. He had been in the hospital wing overnight and they still couldn't figure out where all the potion bottles that had been shoved up his ... well, they still couldn't account for all the potions bottles. "Taking minions like this would only get the various families and governments involved. Blatantly commanding people about is only going to get her into trouble."

"Of course!" Hermione cried out gleefully. She immediately dropped her book bag and began sifting through the numerous tomes within until she found the one she was apparently looking for. "Aha! Here it is! _'How to Become the Dominant Military Presence on Your Elementary School Playground'_! I misunderstood one of the most important steps!"

"The _what_!" Dumbledore half-shrieked, aghast. He looked at the front of the book as she opened it up to the first chapter and, indeed, that had been the title of the book.

Curious, Harry sifted through the other books in her bag that were in the same spot as the one Hermione had withdrawn. "Huh. _'Pop Goes the Hamster and Other Great Microwave Games', 'The Pop-Up Book of Human Anatomy'_?"

"For your next series of lessons," Hermione explained simply.

"_'Dad's New Wife, Timothy'_?" He asked, looking up at her.

"Neville seems a little skittish," Hermione stated. "I'm cross-referencing that to see if his symptoms match."

"_'Leathers, Whips and Chain: The Complete Guide to-_'," Harry was cut off as Hermione grabbed the book and shoved it into her bag, closing it immediately.

"Er, that one is for ... um, personal study," she said with a blush. Only Snape noticed Madam Sprout's sudden interest, if his horrified face meant anything. "Anyway, this one, _'How to Become the Dominant Military Presence on Your Elementary School Playground'_, said that you should build up your forces, but that you have to be strong enough to stand up to any opposition! I was thinking it meant personal, but it means my new army!"

"Yes, the _'Evil Empire Handbook'_ says much the same," Snape stated. "You can find it in the library here. The Slytherins usually check it out early, but it is still early enough you may find a copy. It's in the same section as the school books on bondage, love potions, legal loopholes, slavery magics and power-increasing rituals."

"Oh, thank you, Professor!" Hermione said happily, grabbing Harry's hand and her bag, dragging him to the library immediately.

"Wait! I haven't ... oh, forget it," Dumbledore gave up.

xXxXxXx

**Omake 2: Troll**

"RAH!" Harry yelled, pulling his arm backwards and wandlessly flinging the large mountain troll away from Hermione, who was cowering on the floor, through the wall on the other side of the bathroom and into the classroom.

"Harry!" Hermione cried out in tears, rushing to the boy and burrowing her face into his neck, sobbing at nearly having lost her life. She had been unable to tear her eyes away as the tree-sized club bore down on her.

"Shh," Harry cooed into her ear. "It's okay, Empress. I'm here. I'll always be here, I promise."

Hermione succumbed to the feelings of safety and peace in Harry's arms and looked up, wanting to say her thanks, but instead leaning forward and kissing him as she clung to him.

"Grar," the troll grunted as it got up, shaking its head at the strange woozy feeling it had.

Harry and Hermione turned to look at the smelly beast, the first in fury and the second in fear. Then Harry's hand came up and began jerking to the side in time with the troll's club.

"Quit hitting yourself! Quit hitting yourself!"

Hermione giggled.

xXxXxXx

**Omake 3: Other plans**

"Where _is_ that boy?" Dumbledore asked himself, standing invisible in the room that held the Mirror of Erised as Professor Quirrell, possessed by the Dark Lord Voldemort, was attempting to figure out how to get the Sorcerer's Stone.

"M-Master! Did you h-hear s-something?" Quirrell asked.

"No, you sniveling lump of squib!" The back of the Defense Professor's head responded.

Several minutes later, Dumbledore let out what he had hoped was going to be a silent fart. But of course, luck was not with him tonight.

"There it is again, Ma-Master!" Quirrell squeaked out as he jumped.

"Silence, fool! We must figure out the Muggle-Lover's protections to get the stone!" The back of the head seemed to growl in displeasure. "We will never get another opportunity like tonight! The fool Dumbledore went to an Emergency Wizengamot session and the boy and his mudblood planned to learn how to use a paddle on her!"

"He _what_!" Dumbledore shrieked in a female-like scream.

"I heard it again, Master!"

xXxXxXx

**Omake 4: Flamels**

"The old man sent another letter apologizing," Morgan said with a smile. "Apparently, he is feeling a tremendous amount of guilt for taking it upon himself to destroy our Philosopher's Stone."

Emrys chuckled. "I still can't believe that man. We taught him everything he knows about Alchemy, and he still thinks it's possible to make one! Gods! But I am thankful it was a good cover for explaining our apparent, unchanging youth."

"We want anything since he's ripe for the manipulating?" Morgan asked.

Emrys thought for a moment, thinking back upon his daughter's letters. "Well..."

Two days later, Snape was screaming in unholy horror as he was suspended upside down from his balls using barbed wire and salt, just like one Hermione Granger had described in a letter home when describing how horrible the man was to her.

xXxXxXx

**Omake 5: Luna Lovegood**

"Hullo," a blonde-haired, gray-eyed, oddly-dressed and apparently friendly girl said as she opened the door on the two second-year students who were happily engaged in each other's mouths.

Hermione pulled back and flipped a leg over Harry so she was no longer straddling him and sat on the seat naturally. The two had arrived early for the train, so much so that it actually wouldn't leave for another five hours and there wasn't a single other soul about but the three of them. "Er, hello. Sorry about that, we just didn't expect anyone to be here at six this morning."

"Do you mind if I sit with you?" The blonde girl requested, tilting her head to the side and allowing the others to see her radish earrings and the wand behind her ear. "I was hoping to speak with you and, since it's early, we can get our talk out of the way. If you do not like what I have to say, then I can simply be on my way and you back to partially ravishing one another."

"That seems fair," Harry piped up with a grin.

Luna nodded and swiftly sat down in front of the other two gracefully. "My name is Luna Lovegood. I was born October thirty-first, nineteen-eighty, a mere three months after Harry. I am classed a pureblood. Here is my resumé," she said, handing a small stack of papers to the shocked Harry, and an identical set to the suddenly all-business Hermione.

"As you can see, I have an OWL-level understanding of theory on all Hogwarts courses, practicals are solid up to third-year and in regards to electives, I am well-versed in Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, along with warding and curse-breaking. I also have an extensive history with magical and mundane creatures."

"How...?" Harry wondered aloud, reading through the frighteningly well-qualified girl's resumé.

"As a Pureblood, even if my family doesn't subscribe to the usual politics and bias, I was well-taught in Pureblood etiquette, laws and customs, along with wizarding business practices since my father owns and runs his own newspaper, and I come with a pre-existing media outlet where we can print true or dis-information as required for your needs."

"I'm impressed," Hermione said, nodding as she read. "It says here you've also had wife training? I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with that."

Luna blushed lightly. "My mother died when I was six, and my father was unsure of how to raise me. Thus, he decided to give me training in everything my mother had done for him or things he heard others saying were good for wives to know. Thus, I have training in massage and massage therapy, psychology, cooking, cleaning, dancing and an education in running a household in the magical world. The only thing it lacked in was the one thing my father couldn't seem to stand me learning in regards to the sexual side of things, though I did manage to find the oldest and most sought-after book on the subject: _The Kama Sutra_. I've not been able to practice anything but the stretches and positions, however, so I class my knowledge and abilities as a beginner."

"It says here on your front page that you're looking for a position as co-wife?" Hermione asked, her voice coming out as neutral as possible while mixed with a light growl.

"A part of the package, I'm afraid," Luna frowned. "I do not wish to take over the world, nor do I wish to hold a position of power. My interests are self-serving, mostly. With you, I will work for free, but ask that we look for a way to possibly revive my mother if we can find a suitable method that isn't totally heinous. But, daddy always said I am not allowed to go cavorting around the countryside or on any long trips with a boy unless he intends to be my husband."

"How did that conversation come up?" Harry asked, finally having something presented to him that he could follow.

"The _other_ newspaper said you were going to save us all, one week, and then the next, you were the next dark lord. Daddy was unsure which to believe, so to ensure that I don't get hoodwinked and you take my cherries, which is a little silly since I don't even carry any, you must be my husband, or my betrothed. That is also where my knowledge of law and Pureblood customs comes into play. As the last of an ancient line, it is allowed to have more than a single wife. But two is the limit. So, instead of waiting as my father suggested, I felt it prudent to get my resumé in post haste."

"Hm," Hermione said as she frowned, reading the last page. "Well, your work ethic looks wonderful, your layout of your resumé is superb, you come well-qualified and you've certainly put a lot of thought into this."

Harry looked over to Hermione with wide eyes.

"I assume the usual magical oath for our minions won't work in this situation, but the standard Promising Rights for betrothed couples should do nicely."

"Thank you, Hermione!" Luna said happily, shaking the brunette's hand before shifting to Harry's. "I promise I won't let you down! Now! Shall I take up my girlfriend duties now, or would you rather wait until we get to Hogwarts?"

"Oh, no!" Hermione said, looking affronted. "If you're going to do anything, you should put your all into it! _Never_ give only a partial effort! You snog Harry. I'm going to draw up new plans for domination of your year."

Luna mumbled her agreement through Harry's lips.

xXxXxXx

**Omake 6: We Meet Again, Arch Nemesis!**

Albus Dumbledore sighed wearily as he let the stairs to his office take him up, not having the energy to move on his own. He had spent the whole day trying to piece together what had happened. Suddenly, the wards had gone completely crazy, registering so many actual students that the tracking wards just simply shut down. He had no way of knowing for sure what it was, but the school said it was filled to the brim with current students, and so many, in fact, that it lost track of them all.

Somehow, he suspected Miss Granger, Miss Lovegood and Mister Potter. He didn't know how, he didn't know why, but they were really the only ones who could cause this kind of trouble. Since the three had met the year before, nothing seemed to go right! Any time he tried to use the law to get the boy back into his clutches, he seemed to automatically know how to counter him! When he felt he could activate the marriage contract between the youngest Weasley and Mister Potter, he found it was null and void do to a pre-existing contract that had already been activated! And as if to smack the headmaster in the face, there were two in place!

And now, with Sirius Black having apparently come to Hogwarts, he found that all of the sealed information about him was somehow unsealed and it was shining light on the fact that escaped man, who was now proven in the Quibbler to have never been an actual convict, had never had a trial. Then, it pointed out that he didn't have a dark mark, but more than a dozen death eaters who _did_ have such a mark, including their potions professor, _did_ have trials, _did_ have evidence to support their guilt, and that they actually _escaped_ justice.

And for whatever reason, there were now more than a hundred times as many students in the school actually registered and erroneously being tracked by the wards.

Or they would be if the wards were active.

Dumbledore opened his door with a weak push, only to stop as he saw that his office had somehow been spun around so he was facing the back of his large, black leather chair.

Which then chose to slowly spin around, showing Hermione Granger sitting there, stroking a purring tabby cat that had been charmed pure white. It was not, however, enough to hide the cat's identity.

"Minerva?" Dumbledore breathed out, shocked.

"We meet again, Mister Dumbledore," Hermione said, petting the cat again.

"What do you think you're doing in my office, Miss Granger?" Dumbledore asked. He would figure out how the office was changed later when he had her revert it back to normal.

"Did you now, Headmaster Dumbledore, that two people who strive for the same goal and position will eventually have to compete for it?"

Dumbledore blinked, feeling very confused. "I don't understand, Miss Granger."

"You are attempting to rule the wizarding world, Mister Dumbledore. I do not take kindly to that," Hermione stated in a clipped voice.

"I am trying to do no such thing!" Dumbledore said, looking outraged. "All I have ever done is hope to lead the wizarding world into a new age of peace and-"

"Oh, stuff it," Hermione interrupted, glaring at the old man and shocking him into obeying. "We gathered enough clues, Mister Dumbledore, to learn at least a part of your plans. Hiding away Harry, leaving him ignorant of both his heritage and his legacy, keeping him ignorant of the Prophecy and manipulating students to where you wish them to be led."

Dumbledore paled.

"We are well aware you are not a Pureblood supremacist, but that you hope to correct the inbreeding problem and that you hope to control the populace until you have them where you wish them to be led. We searched and found your notes. Very untidy, Mister Dumbledore."

Suddenly, Dumbledore found himself stripped of his wand and the Elder Wand before being magicked onto a table that disillusioned itself once he was firmly attached. Then he was slapped with magic-blocking manacles and found himself in a position of mercy.

Harry and Luna made themselves visible once the man was caught.

"Did you think we wouldn't find out you were trying to take Harry from us?" Luna asked, stepping over to the wall at the side of the room as Harry changed the position of the table top so the Headmaster was looking towards the wall Luna was clearing and making a smooth, white screen even as the boy strapped the headmaster's head firmly in place so it couldn't be turned.

"Did you think we wouldn't _stop_ you?" Harry hissed into the hairy ear of the Leader of the Light.

"Do you expect me to talk?" Dumbledore asked, remembering a situation like this from his youth. It had turned out to be a pleasant experience, but he doubted this was going the same way. He was strapped down on his back, not his stomach.

"No, Mister Dumbledore," Hermione said, finally standing and cuddling the purring cat in her arms. The cat had spent two hours in a large pile of fresh catnip. She could see Fluffy and think it was the funniest thing ever right now. "We expect you to die!"

Suddenly, Dumbledore's face was filled with the smiling face of Luna Lovegood from the side. "At least on the inside."

The lights dimmed and the wall was suddenly filled with what would end up being forty-eight hours of something called, "The Teletubbies".

When Poppy Pomfrey found the Headmaster, he was a broken man.

Who kept singing the most annoying, but addictive, song...


	11. Oh Crap!

**Title**: Oh Crap!

**Chapter**: One-Shot

**Ships**: Harry/Hermione/Luna (minor plot point)

**Rating**: T (Suggestive themes)

**Tags**: Fred, George, Forge, Gred, Weasley Twins, Identity Crisis, "The Dating Game"

**Warnings**: Suggestive themes, Language

**Characters**: Fred & George Weasley, Harry P, Hermione G, Luna L, Delores Umbridge

**Key**: "Speech", _'Thought'_

**Author**: Paladeus

**Summary**: An explanation as to why the Twins truly fight over who is who while we learn how the Twins would have gotten rid of Umbridge had (something) in Canon not stopped them. Assuming fifth year with Canon Prefects, beginning of December.

I admit I deviated from the point with this and added a bit to the end.

**Notes**: This is just something to get off my chest while reworking the time line in my "Death's Pride" chapter, which is thankfully nearly complete. Sadly, I've been working so much and just moved, so it's a pain in the butt to actually complete on top of realizing I was close to rushing things in a very bad way (just the speed at which things happen, nothing as bad as you may think.)

The game mentioned in the tags section, and towards the start of this one-shot, will be expounded upon in a later chapter as well. It was something I came up with more as a joke just after High School with some friends that we all actually rather enjoyed and decided to use in our own relationships. Surprisingly, it was fun and there was a lot less arguing in some of them and it helped one couple stay together to get married (the guy was a bit of a slob and didn't really clean up after himself, but his girlfriend found he enjoyed hot tubs more than he disliked laundry and doing leaving the toilet seat down.)

I will post one of my other one-shots following this one entitled, "Wonka's Boy" featuring an Evil Willy Wonka.

xXxXxXx

Hermione Granger moaned in delicious rapture as she tossed her head back and relished in the feelings of pure bliss her two lovers were providing her. Well, her boyfriend and girlfriend, Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood, anyway. They still weren't going any further than they could do at a poolside in regards to lack of clothes (usually, as there were times accidental magic seemed to make the cloth become transparent or vanish, usually after Luna gave some adorable pout and the others seemed to cave or they visited the Lovegood's own large pond that was charmed to not allow any form of cloth within fifty feet, much less within its confines.)

And they didn't often do more than some serious snogging, which Hermione had somehow turned into a sport game with scoring points that could be turned into rewards: back rubs, physical reward zones whose time was related to the number of points you 'cashed in', sleeping together in the literal sense (which was also one of the least expensive things since it was a favored item for each of them,) clothing removal, swimming (the Prefect's bath and Room of Requirements turned out to be a godsend to all three) and many others, including Hermione's favorite, which is what currently had her in a state of body that almost had her reaching a peak she would soon sharply hit, getting her feet rubbed and massaged.

Prefect rounds and duties with Ronald Bilius Weasley was the worst torture she could possibly have ever devised, and she suffered through it every other night. All the walking, the constant complaining from the red-headed butthead about his grades since she refused to help him anymore, chasing down students running from them and other such pursuits had her feet aching by the time she returned to her two favorite people in the world.

Silently, she gave Harry more points than he spent of his own to pay for the foot rub.

"It really could be worse," Harry said, breaking through Hermione congratulating herself for coming up with 'The Dating Game'. Who cares if she figured out a shield to block the Cruciatus and Killing curses? Who cares if she found laws in the books that meant wizardkind had to treat house elves with the same sort of rights and privileges a worker in the muggle world was entitled to? That game had been the best idea she had _ever_ had!

"I don't see how," Hermione grumbled. "He _actually_ pointed the two brats out and yelled, 'sic 'em, Hermione!'! Just what the bloody hell could have made it worse?" Hermione continued, throwing her arms up only to moan and writhe in wonderment as bliss permeated her body as Harry and Luna's skilled hands hit various sweet spots on her aching feet.

"You could have patrolled with Malfoy," Luna stated simply, popping Hermione's toes while mentally counting which little piggy did what.

"Or Umbridge could have went with you, trying to claim you did something wrong and remove your badge," Harry said, beginning to work on his brunette love's calves.

"Or wee little Ronnikens-" a voice began from the side of the couch, causing the two Gryffindors and one Ravenclaw to look at the two twins lazily.

"-could still be awake to tell all and sundry-" the not-quite-as-handsome twin continued next.

"-how you hexed him for being a right prat and-"

"-actually trying to sic you on someone," they finally finished.

Hermione was a contrast of righteous fury and near orgasmic bliss from one moment to the next, but that didn't stop her firm voice from turning a bit prim and proper. "I don't know what you're talking about," she stated with a sniff. "It all happened so quickly I am totally sure he doesn't remember a thing that happened after ordering me like a common _dog_, and I maintain that I was chasing down the students, so whoever it was, they obviously were from behind Ron. The fact that they used advanced human transfiguration to remove his tackle, raise his voice a few octaves and applied a bowel-loosening hex along with a sticking charm to seal his bottom, all spells of which I do happen to know, is nothing more than a mere coincidence."

Hermione looked down in confusion as those angelic, heavenly, amazing hands stopped doing wonderful things to her feet and calves. "Why'd you stop? Harry paid for another fourteen minutes."

"Madam Pomfrey didn't say anything about those last two...," Harry mumbled with a raised eyebrow even while Luna grinned brightly. The twins simply looked at her in horror.

"Well ... right," Hermione blushed. "Maybe the ... er, miscreant who got Ron applied them after she checked him over?" She asked more than stated.

"Then how would you know?" One of the twins asked.

"Erm," she blushed, realizing she was caught. "The same way I know the seal is only open towards the top, leaving any messes only one direction to go?" She could actually feel Harry shudder through the hands on her legs.

"And people say we're bad, Gred."

"Too right, Forge."

"Why do the two of you always do that?" Hermione asked, hoping to switch subjects while motioning Harry and Luna to continue their work while casting a quick and simple Notice-Me-Not towards her lower region and what her two loves were doing. It wasn't anything bad, really, but Harry was a _very_ detail-oriented person in some things and, running his hands over her for any reason whatsoever was one of them and she didn't really care for anyone else, especially the twins, to see her legs considering their sheltered life in regards to girls' bodies.

"Do what?" Both twins asked as one, mirror images of confusion.

"Always fight over who is who and mangle your names for those two mixes," Hermione clarified. "I mean, I know you two always share everything and do everything together, but I would think you would like at least something to claim as your own. But, you never seem to let up on that joke. Ever. I don't know if I should be impressed by your dedication or disturbed by it."

The twins looked at each other while the three younger years watched them, wondering at the answer. It was something _everyone_ had always wondered, but no one had ever really thought to ask, worried the answer would be worse than the question. When the two finally came to an agreement, as shown by a simultaneous nod at each other, they looked down and sighed as one.

"Have you ever wondered what got us into pranking to begin with?" One of them asked without a hint of joviality. "Why we are so different compared to the others? Charlie and Bill are both serious guys in serious lines of work."

"Percy, the ponce, is as serious as you can get with a stick up his arse the size of Merlin's staff," the other continued, making Luna giggle as dirty thoughts entered her mind.

"We're the only Weasleys like us, yea?" The first continued.

"Well, yes," Hermione said slowly.

"But we figured it was just the way you were," Harry picked up where Hermione left off, his hands not stopping as they continued to knead Hermione's muscles and turn her into quivering witch goo for later reward purchases.

As if all three were one, Luna picked up next. "The same way that Ronald wants everything but believes it should be handed to him(1) and Ginevra preens under attention and is either this shy, introverted thing or an outgoing spitfire that won't stop until she gets what she wants(2)."

"Sort of," both twins said together.

"You know we take a lot of fun in confusing Mum about who is who," the first twin said again.

"But the truth is, we have no idea which of us is which," the second said with a shrug.

"What?" All three asked, shocked.

"Well, this twin thing started out when we were born, you see," the second continued with a smirk.

"And even back then, Mum couldn't tell us apart. No one could," the first laughed, finding it funny.

"One of us would get in trouble, and the other would take a part of the punishment to allow the other time to go and do something if we didn't just both do it to stick together."

"Wait," Harry said, removing his hands from Hermione's calves and getting a mew of displeasure from her. "Are you telling me that you started off with pranks and the like because ... Your mother couldn't tell you apart?"

"And because we had no idea who was who, so we really didn't know which one of us was really in trouble when she chose just to punish one of us 'cause she only saw one do whatever it was she caught us doing," the second twin admitted.

"She'd pick a name at random and punish that person."

"But since we didn't know which of us was the name she chose, and we shared everything anyway..." Both twins looked at each other and shrugged again, then looked at the three younger years gaping at them and did so again.

"That ... is almost unbelievable," Hermione mumbled, absentmindedly prodding the male third of the Lover's Triad to get him to get back to work.

"Could be worse," the first twin said with an evil grin that the other immediately copied, knowing they were about to divulge the reason they approached the three at a moment that had originally appeared far more awkward when they first saw the trio on the common room couch.

"How do you mean?" Harry asked since Hermione was actually purring at his ministrations.

"Well, we could be little Ronnikens when Mum receives a letter she believes will be coming from Madam Pomfrey."

Hermione's danger sense immediately kicked in and she turned a baleful eye towards the pranksters. Not that she cared what Ron was about to get, but if it in any way interfered with her own relationship, which was one of the main reasons she could think of them coming to them at night when everyone knew not to bother the trio, then she was going to get violent. "Explain," Hermione demanded.

"Well, Mum _might_ get a letter saying that dear little Ronnikens and Milicent Bulstrode and Delores Umbridge have been having a tumultuous affair and the three are expecting to be proud parents soon."

"YOU WHAT!" Hermione roared.

"We decided to get rid of her," one of the twins defended themselves.

"We needed to let you know since you guys spend more time around him than anyone else and people are probably going to ask you!"

"Not to mention, if people think she's sleeping with students, then she can't possibly stay around, can she?"

"It's actually quite brilliant," Luna said after a moment, making her two loves' heads turn to her in shock. "Well, think about it. They are right. If people suspect it of happening, then she _can't_ remain in the school. And he _is_ one of the more likely candidates to agree to ... such a thing. Why not Draco, however?"

"We considered it, but thought it may cause more problems than needed with Lucius Malfoy," a twin said.

"And we've already planted a perfectly faked report that Madam Pomfrey will believe she wrote in her own files when the story hits so she thinks Umbridge erased her memory. And when Ron denies it, it'll be the same thing."

The first twin grinned brightly, widening his arms in a magnanimous gesture. "We've already hit her with three spells. The first, one to check for pregnancy, just in case since we didn't want to do something drastic no matter how unlikely," he said.

"Then the spell for the morning after, which is altered slightly so it will also display a false positive should it be checked with a spell, but not the potion, sadly," twin two said with a sigh. "Couldn't get that part right and we couldn't hold this off any longer."

"And finally, a contraceptive charm for good measure, so it appears she's ... er, _active_," the first twin said with a face of disgust, mirrored by his twin and all three younger years, regardless of the fact that two of them had their hands up the other's skirt, albeit not by much.

"Anyway," twin two said, giving a jaunty wave. "We thought you should know since the story is that she tried to get Harry, but the two of you were able to cart him away, ravage him so he wouldn't with Umbridge, and then Ron was her second choice but his _dear, honorable_ friends were already helping one and were unaware of the other."

"Toodles!" Twin one said, as both spun and rushed away, just in case spells flew in their general direction.

The three were silent for several long minutes, not really moving or talking until Hermione cleared her throat delicately. "Er, maybe it would be a good idea to finish this another time," she suggested softly.

Both her friends removed their hands from her feet and legs and stood, wondering how exactly to handle this.

"Are we okay with this?" Harry asked after a moment. "I mean, Ron turned into a bit of a berk in fourth year and never really got better and was always something of a prat, but we're talking about people thinking he either willingly ... well, _that_, with Umbridge, or not so willingly, and people will think she had become preggers..."

"Oddly enough, I'm okay with it," Hermione said, pondering her own feelings on the matter. "I probably wouldn't go along with it and help disprove it had anything actually happened, especially against someone's will, but nothing actually _did_ happen and it _would_ get rid of her. Even in the wizarding world, that is not accepted."

"What about Millicent?" Luna asked. "She has been rather nasty to us, I admit that, but she isn't exactly a bad person. She only does things that we dislike when others are around, which I think is more of a peer pressure or self-defense sort of thing. I would really prefer she not get caught up in this."

"We can help with that, then," Harry said comfortingly. "We can help disprove that, saying it was a nasty rumor started up because of the one about Ron and Umbridge, trying to make things worse than they really are."

"That would actually help _prove_ the other rumor," Hermione said, smiling lightly as she stood and her feet only had a dull ache while the rest of her tingled most pleasantly from their work. "Basically, it shows how rumors grow almost right off the bat by adding in other people, but with that being disproved and the other _not_ being disproved..." She shrugged.

"Somehow, I still feel like this is going to come back and bite the twins on the butt," Harry said, sitting on the couch where Hermione had risen from and letting both girls curl into his sides and under his arms, assuming their second-favorite position since the couch wouldn't allow them to lay down in a similar fashion.

"What do you mean?" Both girls asked.

"Not really sure," Harry mused aloud. "It just feels like ... well, I don't know. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. But, I think it'll work, just not the way the twins want it to."

"I guess we'll see," Luna murmured, running her hand along Harry's chest while the one wrapped around him was stroking Hermione's hair.

xXxXxXx

It was two days later when the expected fallout occurred. The three lovers were eating lunch with most of the school when the Daily Prophet was flown into the Great Hall, half a day late due to the incredible front page story that the editor refused to allow to sit, even knowing he would get a few complaints.

Nearly every student inhaled in shock at the same moment.

_**Hogwarts' Forbidden Love!**_

_**By: Allowin Lyez**_

_Love has been the cause for many a man to go to war, whether it was one country over another such as with the beautiful Helen of Troy, or between one man and another, such as the case with many a duel of honor when dirty secrets and unfaithful spouses are revealed. But never before has one man's love been so shocking. Not even Harry Potter's romantic entanglements have been so scurrilous!_

_How, you may ask, could a romance, a forbidden love, be so sordid as to surpass even Mr Potter's relationship with two women? Why, because not only does this man have two women as well, but while one is his own age, the other is actually a professor! _

_Ronald Weasley (15) is in a currently relationship with Millicent Bulstrode (16), but also Delores Umbridge(44), Undersecretary of Minister Fudge! That isn't the worst part, dear readers! No! For you see, it turns out both girls have already been with Mr Weasley's child! Tests in Hogwarts' own medical wing have proven that both girls have carried Mr Weasley's blood._

_That's right, readers. While Mr Potter is willing to be with two girls, he has done the responsible, sensible thing and done right by his two girls, Hermione Granger (16, born 19 Sep 1979) and Luna Lovegood (15, born 31 Oct 1980.) Mr Weasley, however, simply couldn't seem to be bothered to think of his two girlfriends and will now be a father as the result._

_The large question here is why is Minister Fudge allowing Delores Umbridge, a woman who obtained an Acceptable on her Defense OWL after three attempts and no NEWT, to teach DADA at Hogwarts and, could it be that Ms Umbridge had something to hold over the man in order to get the position to be with her lover? Were either girl aware of the other, or was perhaps Ron Weasley cheating on both of them?_

_Investigations are ongoing for these questions and several more, each more troubling than the next. Please keep an eye out for future reports as we continue to let you know what we find._

The Lovers Triad looked over to the Slytherin table to see a horrified look upon Millicent Bulstrode's ghostly-pale face. The paper in her hands was shaking as she clutched it almost desperately, looking as though she were trying to will the words to change as she stared at them. Feeling obligation rise within them, they rose and went over to the Slytherin table, many in the Great Hall quieting in hopes of hearing what was to be said even as the Slytherins stared in either shock or disgust at the poor girl.

"Bulstrode," Harry began, making the horrified girl look up, her eyes pleading for everything to be a horrible nightmare. She wasn't the loveliest of creatures in Hogwarts. She knew this. In fact, she was taller, stronger than broader in shoulder than many of her male contemporaries. Granted, she was also the chestiest girl probably in the entire school, but only she, herself, knew that as the rest thought it was body weight, which was something she helped cultivate since she had begun developing before Hogwarts even started and she hated the attention it had brought.

And to be honest, the idea of _Weasley_ of all people being father of her child was even more horrifying for her than ... well, everyone learning about her carefully hidden secret, to be frank. She believed she had a great body, but she didn't want _anyone_ to know about it. And the fear that someone else may have? And she didn't remember it? She shuddered, but looked at the one thing she dreamed of sometimes, as in nightly, that usually made her dreams become better: Harry Potter. When he showed up in her dreams, she usually wasn't forced into some horrible arrange marriage, which was the whole reason she didn't want anyone to know about her. Her face was ... well, she was homely. But she _did_ hear the boys joking about doing unsavory things to her with a pillow case over her head.

"We know this isn't true about you," Hermione said, seeing Harry unsure on how to actually go forward with what was stated in the papers. "We know you wouldn't do something like that and we'll make sure we let everyone in Gryffindor know that didn't actually happen."

"Thanks," Millicent swallowed thickly, a slight bit of color coming back to her cheeks. "But I doubt you can really make this better." Slowly, and a little more zombie-like than alive, she rose and started towards the hospital wing. "I think I need to ... See Madam Pomfrey."

"This! This! This is an outrage!" The jiggly form of Delores Umbridge shrieked in furious anger, her meaty grip ripping the paper in half. Beady brown eyes filled with malevolence stared into the sea of students, wondering who had caused this to happen and who was going to suffer for it.

Watching Potter and his two ... _girlfriends_, she knew exactly who was going to suffer for it, greatly. She had no idea that events had already begun that would leave her without being able to dispense that misery as a few morose parents were making their way to Hogwarts.

"Umbridge!" Minerva McGonagall screeched, her back unnaturally straight, her lips as thin as they could possibly get and her eyes promising far more pain than Umbridge ever thought one could possibly convey. Her fear wasn't so great some small part of her wasn't jealous, even when that promised pain was directed at her.

"Professor McGonagall," Umbridge simpered. "Surely you don't believe in these ... these _lies_!"

"Lies they may be," McGonagall hissed, eyes narrowed to look much like her animagus form and her shoulders tensing much the same. "But I do believe we'll be going to see Madam Pomfrey, just to see what she has to say about this. Now _march!_"

Umbridge did.

"Hm," Hermione mused aloud. "So far, your Karma worry seems unfounded. Maybe you were just paranoid after all."

"I guess," Harry said with a shrug as all three decided against going to see Ron in the infirmary where he was bound to learn about what was going on the hard way. Kinda like tossing a person into the deep end of the pool and telling them to learn to swim 'or else'. The fear was probably the same.

"Should we go sit by the lake?" Luna suggested, which was code for sitting by the lake and Happy Snogging Fun Time. Or, should Luna employ her own points, they'd end up searching for some creature which, oddly enough, had proven wrackspurts existed. Like tiny little jellyfish, they would latch on and befuddle the mind, feeding on the mental energies traveling throughout the body.

"Let's run some damage control for Bulstrode, first," Hermione suggested. "I don't want her to get hurt by this. The poor girl looked absolutely terrified."

"I would, too," Harry snorted. "If someone told me I was having Ron's baby, I'd probably jump from the Astronomy tower."

All three looked at each other before making a rather quick rush in that general direction, feeling it was better safe than sorry, though they were able to find her two halls down, actually heading up to see Madam Pomfrey, chanting, "it's all a nightmare and Weasley's a eunuch. It's all a nightmare and Weasley's a eunuch."

xXxXxXx

Arthur and Molly Weasley floo'd to the Headmaster's office with very somber expressions on their faces, disappointment and resignation permeating the room from the two in waves of sorrowful despair. "Albus, please tell us it isn't true," Molly begged, wringing her hands in front of her expansive bosom, still wearing the a flour-coated apron from where she had been making bread.

"Alas, I cannot," Dumbledore said with a weary sigh. "Harry and Misses Granger and Lovegood have been attempting to tell the school that everything about Miss Bulstrode is untrue and have shown a united front for her defense, which has convinced most of the school, despite one or two individuals attempting to say otherwise. Poppy has been able to confirm her virtue, so there is no fear, there. But, as for Umbridge ..."

"Albus?" Arthur asked with a voice begging for someone to tell him this horrifying nightmare was untrue.

"Poppy has records of confirming a pregnancy, but no memory of having done the procedure," Dumbledore said at last, trying to convey his apologies through the empathy in his voice. "The spell has confirmed her to be currently pregnant, though you know we cannot determine whose child it truly is until after it is born. However, she had an active contraception charm on her, so we believe it simply failed and that this was an accident that somehow the spell couldn't stop, or ..."

"Or?" Both Weasleys asked.

"Or she desired a husband so desperately she was willing to trap young Ronald into marriage, believing he would do the honorable thing and wed her before the child was born so it would not be a bastard. She holds strongly to the old ways and would never accept such a thing, so she will probably force his hand. She denies this, of course, but we believe she is hoping to see what Ronald's reaction will be, first."

"Where is that boy!" Molly growled out. "I taught him better than this, to be led around by his little head! He knew the charms! What has he had to say about all of this?"

"Ron was actually taken to the hospital wing last night by Miss Granger during their Prefect rounds, saying she was trying to catch a couple of younger years who were out after curfew and that Ron, as was the norm, chose to walk after her. When she returned, he had been attacked. It is our belief that the two had a lover's spat and she had been following them about, waiting for a chance to attack him without Miss Granger being aware," Albus said with a sigh.

"In the end, we suspect he knows and refused to accept the responsibility of fatherhood and she grew spiteful and retaliated. He will be perfectly fine in another day or two, but it was obviously Delores who attacked Ronald because the majority of the spells were easily linked towards ... er, his being a man," Dumbledore said with a light blush. "The only two that were not was a sticking charm and loose bowels hex, but after some of the stories about Miss Umbridge going around the school and her preferences, I assume that it was somehow related to their illicit affair. Her red face when presented with the conclusion, despite her denials, suggests this is true."

"That's it!" Molly roared, making Fawkes fall backwards in shock and flap his wings fruitlessly before flaming out of the room rather than fall to the floor. "I want his Prefect badge removed! We will do as we came here to do, Arthur! We will and we will make _damn, blood well sure_ that Ron does right by that woman, despite how horrible she is! To be led by the nose like that! Hoodwinked! By _our son_, Arthur!"

"Molly!" Arthur bellowed, showing the steel balls and unbending backbone that made her instantly obey and half-smirk, despite the circumstances. She was rather fond of the dominant Arthur. "There was never a doubt about what we would be doing. Now be silent while I deal with this," he demanded, sighing and looking to his old friend. "Albus, where is Madam Umbridge now?"

"Before you go and see her, I'd like to make an offer to thank you for all of your support over the years..."

xXxXxXx

Delores Umbridge seethed in unholy rage as she was confined to her bed using straps of padded leather rather than magic. She had denied every allegation that she had _ever_ been with the blood traitor and had even attempted to leap at his unconscious form as soon as she saw him in the bed, which was why she was confined now. Why the bloody hell they thought she was trying to hug him, she didn't know, nor did she care.

Cornelius had already been by, but had refused to speak with her, speaking purely with Dumbledore who had explained the tests performed, the results and how she had attempted to have her way with her unborn child's father as soon as she saw him, totally twisting everything that was there to fit with things. The fact that Madam Pomfrey already had a report showing her pregnancy, along with the spell to show she was still with child, had confirmed it for the Minister of Magic.

The man had had the audacity to claim her tears of frustration as she tried to yell at him that it was all a lie, though unable as she was silenced, were actually tears of joy and that she was _happy_ about it all! He had _congratulated_ her! She had tried to leap from the bed and strangle the man or snap his neck or something of a similar nature, but all he did was smile warmly and say he couldn't hug her as he had to leave quickly.

Someone, better yet, _everyone_, was going to pay for this travesty! This humiliation!

xXxXxXx

Fred and George Weasley took a rare day to _not_ think about their next prank or to even accomplish those pranks which they had already decided upon. Pleased with themselves, they simply stayed quiet and in the shadows, remaining unobtrusive and quiet, keeping their heads down as they watched the hysteria (or rather, hysterical laughter in most cases, which just seemed as disturbing) unfold.

"They were right," the one they had decided would be Fred that day said. "Adding Bulstrode was a bad move. I'm glad they fixed our mistake."

"Too true, twin mine, too true," George said. "I can't believe how bad I felt for it when she came back into the Great Hall and proclaimed she had proven the story about her was a lie. Her smile..."

"I know," Fred said as both shuddered. "For a moment, I could have sworn everything got brighter and did you hear the-"

"Angelic chorus? That wasn't just me?" George asked, shocked.

"Makes me wonder just what would have happened," Fred muttered a little lower, not wanting to be heard. "I mean, we may not like it, but her family is pureblood and she's probably going to end up with a marriage contract. I guess that could have dropped her bride price a great deal."

"Make it up to her?" George asked. "Maybe offer her a job with the store we have planned?"

"I suppose we could," Fred pondered, stroking his hairless chin as though he were stroking a beard. "To be honest, I can't get that smile of hers out of my head."

George's eyes widened as he looked at his blushing brother. "No way," he breathed, shocked.

"Just sayin'," Fred said somewhat defensively, shrugging in an attempt at nonchalance. "I mean, we could have totally ruined her future and we didn't even think about it. That is a line we have _always_ taken steps to ensure we didn't cross and what almost happened?"

"But...," George spluttered. "From apology to ... _fancy_?"

"She isn't honestly all that bad," Fred said. "She isn't the prettiest thing in the world, but she _is_ a fair sight better than _Umbridge_, yea?" He asked. "And, for some reason, when she smiled, I couldn't help but wonder why I've never seen it before."

"Hm," George considered his brother, accomplice, ally and business partner-to-be. "Well, I guess you're right. And if nothing else, we could try to fix whatever part of her reputation we may have damaged. Even if it was proven she isn't preggers, people will still remember, I guess."

"Too right," Fred said with a resolute nod. "But, I don't think I fancy her, I just want to get to know her a little better. Find out why she doesn't smile like that as often."

"Boys!"

"AH!" Fred and George Weasley squealed like little girls as they jumped three feet into the air and spun at the sound of their mother's voice. "MUM!" They yelled in unison, wondering how she found out what they did.

"Come along," Molly said, bustling up to her children. "Your father wants you to know what just happened."

Concerned, the twins looked at one another and followed their mother, muttering about 'the poor dear', 'grand babies' and how she was going to punish Ron so badly he wouldn't want to let 'it' out of his pants again before deciding she would work with 'the poor dear' to get Ron to learn to obey his wife. Something within the twins settled at the bottom of their stomachs and fear unlike anything they had yet known began to creep in.

xXxXxXx

"Madam Umbridge," Arthur said, coming and sitting by the bound woman's bed, ignoring her beady, glaring eyes since he had never seen anything else. "I am here, as you may have guessed, to maintain my son's, and that of the Weasleys' by extension, honor."

"You don't have any honor, you traitor!" Umbridge seethed, having been let free of the silencing spell by Poppy while Arthur was here for what he had to do. "And I am _not_ pregnant with that! That! _Boy's_ child!" She hissed, glaring at the unconscious redhead.

Arthur sighed, having expected something like this after what Dumbledore had said. "I know it is tough, Delores," Arthur began. "From what we have been able to figure out, Ron used you and then tried to run from his responsibilities. For that, I am truly and deeply sorry."

"I! You! He! Kill!" Umbridge's wrath was so great and her fury so all-consuming that she couldn't figure out which threat to get out first. But oddly, the first word of each and the basic premise was simple enough.

"We won't allow him to run, Delores. We will, no matter what it takes, make sure our son does the honorable thing. Dumbledore and the Weasleys are so ashamed at how we perceived you in the past that we have decided upon a ten thousand galleon bride price and would like you to consider a proper wedding where you can be the ... beautiful ... bride you deserve to be. We will cover any and all arrangements you don't care to handle yourself."

Every last bit of rage within Delores Umbridge seemed to leave faster than the killing curse from Voldemort's wand when he was on a killing spree. "Me?" She asked, her voice high pitched and her cheeks pink not from anger, but something else now. "A bride?"

"Molly has been on our oldest two for so long to settle down with a lovely woman and give her a grand child that she is equal parts ashamed at our son's behavior, and over the moon at the idea of a little one in the family again."

Delores Umbridge, for the first time in her life, did not have to fake a giggle even as a shiver ran down the spines of Ron, Fred and George Weasley.

xXxXxXx

"Do you, Ronald Weasley, take this woman as your wife in an unbreakable, life-long bond of magic, making her your wife with the expectation of many grand babies at the specific request of your mother?" The Druid asked, smiling at the sixteen-year old who was so excited he was actually shaking even under a full body-bind. The boy had kept fainting in his excitement and crying, so overcome with emotion and feeling.

"NNG!" Ron tried to scream, unable to explain what was going on. For two weeks, he had _tried_ to tell everyone he had _never_ been with Umbr- er, _Delores_. His mother got rather upset if he didn't use her given name and, while he didn't want to, it was better than having his ear twisted. And despite what he had loudly proclaimed, it turns out he _wasn't_ too old to be put over her knee and reminded of his place.

"Delores Umbridge," the Druid smiled warmly at the ... bride, smiling even more warmly, if possible, at the incredibly giddy, happy expression on the woman. "Do you take Ronald Weasley as your husband in a life-long bond of magic and matrimony, willing to accept the request of your mother-in-law who asked that I include grand babies into the marriage vows?"

"I do!" Delores chirped happily.

"Does anyone in the audience know of any reason these two should not be wed, even knowing that they are being forced into gaining no less than five grand babies by the over-excited mother-in-law knowing that there is already one on the way?"

In the audience, Harry, Hermione and Luna were valiantly holding down Fred and George Weasley, keeping their mouths stuffed with their own socks to keep them from crying out and letting out their own secret. The two had been trying to stop this event from happening since the day they had learned about it. Well, to be frank, it was actually two days later after their minds had come back and they no longer rejected the reality they were in. They accepted it was happening. They were just trying to change that reality to something that wasn't horrible. No one believed anything they told them, however.

Hermione had equated it to crying wolf, which had Luna setting traps (though she only caught Ron during his attempted escape, which had his parents giving him a long talk on responsibilities and, for some unknown reason, Delores had agreed with them!)

"Nn!" Ron tried his best to get his friends to help him out, stopping him from having to marry this person. Good ol' dependable Harry! Intelligent Hermione! She would notice he was being forced into this against his will! And Luna! She ...! Well ... Hopefully, she wouldn't try to help again.

"Oh, such enthusiasm!" The Druid chuckled in good nature. "Then by your agreement and by the binding power of magic, I bind you together for the rest of your lives, a binding promise of no less than five grand babies for Molly Weasley to come from these two. So mote it be!"

The wedding rings glowed brilliantly, symbolizing that apparently not being able to say no was good enough in a wedding to make a binding marriage, which would explain all those stories of the past where women were kidnapped away and married against their will.

Hermione was very amused that such a role was being held by Ron for some unknown reason. It slightly disturbed Harry and had Luna giggling like the mad hatter, pulling her two partners out and about to buy baby items, even without knowing what gender it would be, telling them it was great practice for the future.

Harry hadn't been able to get rid of the grin that had brought him.

As the light faded from the two rings, the twins' struggles ceased, knowing there was nothing left they could do. They were now in-laws ... with Delores Umbridge. Holidays would always, _always_, have that woman as a part of it.

The two Weasley twins wept.

"Just remember," Millicent said, patting both twins on the shoulder. "You're able to run away whenever you want."

The twins, looked on in silence, knowing this secret would be taken to their grave. Not because they couldn't tell anyone (as they had tried, repeatedly,) or because they feared getting into trouble. No, those would have been simple and easy. The reason is because the blushing bride was so happy to be a wife that she was actually feeding Ron his food and ... the boy's eyes sparkled with the kind of delight that were only ever seen during meal times.

Apparently, the woman shared something with Molly Weasley, other than the desire to hear the pitter-patter of little feet in the Burrow, and that was the belief that Ron Weasley was far too thin.

"He _actually_ found someone like his mother," Hermione breathed in near-shock as Harry held an arm around both her and Luna as they danced slowly to the gentle, rhythmic music and swayed back and forth.

"Ronald has always wanted to be taken care of," Luna said, her head resting on Harry's shoulder, feeling very content at that moment.

Women liked weddings. And Hermione's mother, while still bewildered by Hermione's relationship situation, was making plans with Molly Weasley on how to best ensure babies show up. Well, until Hermione realized it wasn't just with Ron and his new bride, anyway. Hermione had ranted for a few minutes until a contrite Mrs Granger apologized and promised not to make plans until Hermione's own engagement. Hermione took it, feeling it was the best she would get.

Her father assured her he would do his best to get her to hold off for many years after her wedding, which he hoped to put off as well.

"Either way, I think we found out what my Karma sense was telling me."

"Your 'Karma sense', Harry?" Luna asked, looking up at Harry in amusement. "Can it tell you what your Karma is going to give you tonight?"

"Give you a hint," Hermione purred into his ear as she put one hand into one of Luna's and they both pulled his head down to pull him into a kiss before wrapping their arms around his neck and lowering just enough to suggest hanging, indicating they were going to get piggyback rides to their stargazing spot.

"So, it seems Umbridge won't be at school anymore," Harry said, looking to where the larger woman, looking oddly nonthreatening in white compared to her usual pink where she was actually having a _happy_ conversation with Molly Weasley.

"Oddly, she's been frighteningly wonderful the last month she's been engaged," Hermione said with a shrug. "She actually let us learn things and _joked_ in her class with Seamus and Dean."

"I think she was just happy to not be alone anymore," Luna suggested quietly.

"Might explain why she's been going along with our plan to get rid of her," the Twins said, coming up to the swaying triad.

"Yea, we can't figure why else she'd be going along with this," George, who had been Fred the day before, continued.

"The money is good, but nothing special to her usual salary," Fred said with a grimace and a sigh.

"Boys!" The Twins' eyes widened just in time to see the arms of Delores Jane Weasley wrap around both and pull their faces into her bosom in a hug almost identical to that of their mother, making them scream quietly into her chest before she released them, letting them step backwards and gasp for air. "Oh, isn't it wonderful! We're family!"

The Twins whimpered.

"Congratulations, Mrs Weasley," Hermione offered, causing the woman's eyes to light up in glee, despite her prejudices.

"Thank you, Miss Granger!" Delores chirruped, making Hermiones squawk as she gave a similar hug to the bushy-haired one, somehow reaching out and grabbing the other two and doing the same. Seconds later, she released them, clapping her hands happily before rushing on to the next group.

The three youths, hair askew and looking more than just a little disturbed decided it was time to leave. Ron was nearing a food coma, his new bride was gushing at all the attention and praise over her dress, the rest of the family was a mix between completely clueless and amused and the world was being thrown on its side.

"I think I'm ready to leave," Luna suggested first, knowing the other two were hoping for someone to say it first.

"Seconded," Hermione said, swallowing thickly.

"Thirded," Harry offered.

"There's no such thing," Hermione explained.

"Then you're leaving me here?" Harry asked, questioning them with a raised eyebrow.

"Hm," Luna pondered, eying Harry up and down. "I dunno. What do you think, Hermione? If he follows us home, it may be hard to get rid of him."

"I'm pretty sure he's house trained," Hermione said with a smirk. "So sure." Hermione's eyes widened as she used her peripheral vision to catch sight of Molly Weasley coming their direction with a strange glint in her eye. Knowing her own parents had already left, Hermione quickly grabbed her two love's hands and walked them the other direction. "Gotta get moving! Mother Weasley is incoming and looks to have grand babies on the mind again!"

Giggling, Luna snagged the other two and joined Hermione in rushing with Harry between them to the assigned apparition point to head back to Potter Manor, where they planned a quiet date with drinks and quiet stargazing.

xXxXxXx

1: In first year, Ron saw himself as Quidditch Captain, Head Boy and hoisting the House Cup in the Mirror of Erised surrounded by fans. Throughout every single year in Canon, he never once really worked to obtain those rewards/ranks/honors. He wanted something, but had no drive to obtain them outside of trying to gain what he could off of being Harry's friend, basically commensalism at its finest. Though, Harry does benefit on occasion, such as being taken from Number Four and getting food every now and then. But, with knowing that Harry is starved (why else would they send him food like the meat pies?) and that he suffers, they never really do any work to remove him from that danger.

2: Ginny is a non-entity until fifth year where she almost literally explodes onto the screen and into Harry's life like she is this sexy, sultry, strong-willed female that demands respect and awe when, EVERY time we see her before this, she is a stuttering, scared fool, or a love-struck fangirl. Then suddenly, she's kissing boys and her brothers are terrified of her ire and she is Harry's one true Love who is the one person able to draw him out of his funk after Sirius' death when he locks himself up with Buckbeak. How does that work? Really? "Harry doesn't handle confrontation well unless it's life or death! Maybe if I come on strong and demanding, he'll love me! Ginny, old girl, this plan can't POSSIBLY go wrong! You've outdone yourself again!" Anyone else see that, or no?

This is where the comments came from in regards to Luna.


	12. Wonka's Boy

**Title**: Wonka's Boy

**Chapter**: Every Little Boy Has Dreams

**Ship**: Harry/Hermione/Luna

**Rating**: T

**Warnings**: Evil Willy Wonka (No, that is not a joke), Evilish Harry/Hermione/Luna

**Tags**: Willy Wonka, Chocolate Factory, Oompa Loompa Minions

**Status**: Bunny (Idea, nothing to be done with it – Though, that changes the more I think about this...)

**Origins**: Thank you to Cocoa Girl2 who got me to use "evil Willy Wonka" in a review reply: This is for you. And I am almost sorry for it, too. Almost.

**Key**: "Speech", _'Thoughts'_, **"Oompa Loompa Speech/Music"**,

**[Author's Note:]** This is mainly meant to show a different version of Harry Potter who was raised by an Evil Willy.

Might I suggest reading while drinking cocoa?

(1) – Harsh (mental) abuse is intended, but you may make this subject be as harsh as you desire.

xXxXxXx

"Alright class! Remember to not go running off on your own and stay with your groups!" Missus Truenbough told the group of eight-year olds, who were extremely excited to be visiting the very first Wonka chocolate factory. The idea of running amok in a place that literally _created_ chocolate was like a drug to these chocolate-addicted fiends. The movie that they had recently been allowed to watch during class didn't hurt, either.

Two girls, sisters, had taken swimming lessons in hopes of hopping into chocolate lakes while half a dozen students elected not to eat that day so they would have plenty of room to ingest to their utter delights, or horror, and they were _all_ willing to suffer cavities for a mere hour in their Graceland.

Two guides met them in the first room, two women whose grins looked a little too large and never seemed to leave their faces. Their cheerful attitudes and the creepy voices were lost on the children, but the staff that met them couldn't help but feel it wasn't natural. "No, you won't see any Oompa Loompas," the first woman said in response to a question, the grin never leaving her face and sounded far too cheery while crushing a child's hopes. "But if you're lucky, you may get to see something magical!" Yes! Right there! Their hopes have raised once again! Now for the tour...

The children's good cheer began falling slowly as they went through what appeared an almost standard workshop. Everything was normal metals and vats and tubes, absolutely nothing like the oddball shapes, colors and inventions from the movie. And no wee people anywhere. Where were the orange people in green overalls? Where was the singing and the pools of chocolate? Half an hour into the tour, and each of the children felt as though they had been jipped.

There were plans to mutiny in a few more minutes if things didn't look up. If there wasn't already a chocolate lake, then they would _make_ one!

"What's through there?" Harry Potter asked from near the back of the group, making each of the kids with them all giggle and laugh.

"That's a _wall_ you idiot!" Dudley Dursley said loudly, mocking his cousin, his large belly jiggling.

"Dudley! Don't say such mean things!" Missus Truenbough demanded, ushering the kids along and ignoring the Potter boy as had become a habit. The boy always seemed to look at things that weren't there and she could swear there were times when something happened that seemed like it was _just outside_ of her perception sometimes. It had interested her originally, but for some reason, she had woken up one day and refused to acknowledge any of what she felt could be likely and seemed to have an aversion to him.

Harry frowned and looked into the room that looked a lot like the movies. There were things fluttering about and large machines that looked like they would break any moment puffing multicolored smoke and tiny orange guys in bright green overalls hauling about candies that looked extremely odd. One had a box of what looked like cockroaches made out of caramels! And don't get him started on the marshmallow hummingbirds flying around _on their own_ or those chocolate frogs having a hop race that a few of the orange fellows seemed to be betting on in one corner with pictures of scantily-clad orange women as the frogs hopped around, _also on their own_.

The group continued on as Dudley held Harry back, letting the students turn around a corner before sneering. "Dad told you not to do anything weird today," the fat boy said, poking a bloated digit into Harry's chest. "Even if the teachers wanted you to come, Dad said you'll be in for it if you do anything, Freak! And I'm telling him you asked about a wall!" Smiling viciously, he pushed Harry down and waddled back to the group.

On the other side of the ward that blocked the true side of the chocolate factory from the view of muggles, a tall man in a royal purple suit and top hat, along with bright orange, button-up shirt and shoes, watched with narrowed eyes, tapping his cane to the ground in irritation as he watched the altercation unfold. This man was Willy Wonka. The magical chocolatier.

But no, this wasn't the Willy Wonka from the movies. This man was a dark wizard. Not evil, mind you. But most certainly dark. He didn't dislike muggles, for instance. He actually quite enjoyed their company and much moreso their lack of resistance to magic. After all, charm a few thousand chocolates to be irresistible and send them out, and it makes them fat. Overweight people get depressed and want to eat, coming back to that which will provide them with temporary comfort, also in the form of charms. Add in some shiny wrapping paper for the less intelligent ones, and you have a winning combination.

Eventually, they don't even need the charms. The chocolate soon becomes something they crave and it becomes a cycle where they come for his candies.

Of course, there _was_ that whole subjugation of an entire species thing, but really, the Oompa Loompas were his own creation. Take a house elf and a goblin, a little dark magic, and you'd be surprised at what you could make! A strong body, absolute need to serve, only happy while working and small bodies that require little sustenance. They're great! That whole singing and rhyming thing was a little awkward and worrisome at the beginning, but had appealed to Wonka's eclectic tastes.

And Willy Wonka was rather fond of the muggle women, too. They weren't stuck on themselves and, while some of what you saw looked better because they painted their faces, there was no fear of glamors and finding out you had actually lain with a man. That was the sort of thing you only do once before you learn better. Still, women loved their chocolate, and Wonka loved the women. It was a _beautiful_ cycle!

Of course, Willy Wonka did not dislike his own people. He actually felt that they had a place above the muggles simply because they _were_ better. As people and as a society, there was nothing muggles didn't surpass the wizarding world on, but as the dominate culture, magicals were simply _better_.

And that was why Willy Wonka, who would normally laugh at a child being picked on by his peers and doing nothing to stand up for himself, was suddenly quite furious.

That little boy who got up slowly and dusted himself off as if it were absolutely nothing new and a normal occurrence had a lightening bolt scar on his forehead. That meant that boy was Harry Potter, son of James and Lily Potter, one of the most powerful magicals ever born, according to the Merlin Scale test performed the day he was born. Most magicals, when born, were in the teens. Squibs barely registering and sometimes, just sometimes, a powerful child breaks the twenty mark.

Harry Potter had scored a hundred and three, which was a powerful adult magical's score, well after their magical maturity. Albus Dumbledore's last test had been one hundred and twenty-nine. In fact, it was like he had the average infant's score, on top of his parents' combined scores. Almost as though the two had gifted him with their magic or bound their magics to him somehow.

Of course, that was silly to even Willy Wonka...

Willy Wonka couldn't help himself. He decided to show his face to the world again, after more than thirty years of obscurity. After all, the last time, look at what happened. Sure, it was great for business, but they made him out to be all fun and games and completely demented! It may have been how he portrayed himself, but the sad thing was that they chose to make a franchise out of it without his permission! He had just been taking the mickey on his fun-loving cousin, Celeste, who had married that tabloid writer. He hadn't expected people to take him seriously. Not like _that_!

"Why do you allow him to shove you down like that?" Willy asked, having slunk up next to Harry without the boy noticing. He cast a quick compulsion to not lie, just in case.

Harry jumped and paled, then blushed as he realized someone had seen. Then he blinked at the oddly dressed man. "Er, it's normal," Harry said, trying not to stare. He had seen people like this in the past. Sometimes, when people wear really weird outfits and saw him in the stores, they would come up and shake his hand and already know his name, which would draw attention and then his uncle would hit him or make him do chores until he couldn't anymore.

Thankfully, this oddly dressed person wasn't telling Harry thank you for something.

"Just because something is, does not mean it should be," Willy stated, leading Harry through the halls, several paces behind the students.

Harry remained silent, looking down rather than anywhere else. He knew it wasn't supposed to be this way, but at the same time, there was nothing anyone could do. Or at least, no one cared enough to do anything. At least they hadn't until now.

"If I offered to take care of you and take you in, would you want to join my family?" Willy asked, scanning the boy's mind repeatedly as he looked down and into the child's eyes. Each scan showed pain, misery and sadness without any form of bright spot or anything that made the boy happy other than being locked in a cupboard. How could being caged up make one happy?

Harry looked up at the strange man in shock, not believing and daring to hope that the man was serious. "Why would you do that?"

"What if I told you that you were a very special boy, Harry?" Willy said, using Harry's given name and a little disappointed that he didn't notice when it was used. He would also have to work on the boy's awareness. "What if I told you that on top of that, you were meant to do great things and that I wanted to help you."

"Why?" Harry asked, stopping and looking up at the man. "I'm not special."

"Oh, but you are," Wonka said with a smile. "Your relatives have been hiding a great deal from you, Harry. A whole world, in fact. And I could help you if you would like."

"What's in it for you?" Harry asked, suddenly remembering all of those talks the schools had with the students about strangers and how you shouldn't take their candy. It was made especially hard considering the man was offering something he would give almost anything for (he couldn't, in fact, think of anything he _wouldn't_ give, making him wonder what the adults were so scared about a stranger taking) and they were _in_ a chocolate factory where the man actually _made_ his candies!

"Honestly, I'm doing this on a whim," Wonka stated truthfully. "However, I don't believe you should be shoved around by the fat monkey, and I know your parents wouldn't have allowed it if they were still alive."

Harry's eyes widened. "You ... you knew my parents?"

"Many people from where I come from know of them," Wonka admitted. "And I can train you to be just as strong and powerful as they were." Wonka leaned down, staring into Harry's eyes and delighting in the fire he saw within those green orbs. "What about it. Would you like to become my apprentice? I don't claim to be a perfect person, but I can promise that I will train you to be very powerful and to never take anything like that kind of abuse you've suffered up to now. You will be in control of your own destiny, to become who and what you want to be. All you have to do is agree."

Harry didn't even hesitate. He nodded.

"Good," Wonka said, straightening up. "Then it's time I showed my face once again to the public and take care of that fat monkey, too." The skinny man pulled out a tiny flute and started to blow, his fingers flying over the holes and making a strange tune echo in the hall, which also happened to gather the suddenly excited children's attentions.

Music began to play from nowhere as little orange men in bright green overalls came out of doors that opened seamlessly from the walls.

"**Oompa Loompa, Loompa-dy do! Fat little monkey we have come here for you!"**

Half a dozen orange men seemed to jump the fat boy, making their teacher screech suddenly as the children laughed, finding the whole thing amusing. After that day, Dudley would eventually grow into an outstanding citizen, never committing a crime again, knowing that if he did, those orange men would show him what happened to little piggies in prison again.(1)

"Come, Harry. Let me tell you of my plans for the world. I call it the 'Rotfang Conspiracy'."

xXxXxXx

Harry Potter followed the bushy-haired brunette to the final compartment of the train, intrigued despite himself. He had originally noticed her on the muggle side of the train station, also known as King's Cross, where her parents who were obviously dentists, were giving her final minute advice about sugarless candies, brushing her teeth and flossing. He had immediately deigned to pervert her to the wonders of chocolate just because it was the proper thing to do and because she was the daughter of his enemy: _dentists_.

Well, that was the running joke, at least, and he was quite fond of pulling through with such actions regardless because it really was quite humorous to manipulate people into doing what he wanted. It wasn't actually the control he enjoyed like his honorary father, a man who refused to adopt and ruin his true parents' honor, though Harry also knew the man didn't want to be a father in reality. No, Harry enjoyed seeing how strongly a person would hold to their beliefs, be they important or minor, such as eating sugar. The question in his mind was, '_could I ever find someone I can't corrupt?_' Well, so far, the answer was 'no'. But, it was still fun, considering all he really did was give out free chocolates, usually one charmed to fit a given situation. Sad? Cheer up. In pain? Go to sleep. Just someone Harry disliked? You'd sit on the toilet for however long dependent upon just how much you upset him assuming he didn't want to cause you some other form of discomfort or embarrassment.

But as he listened to the adults and girl speak, he found himself intrigued and, dare he admit it, impressed. In the past three and a half years, Harry had been given a crash course in damn near everything. Mister Wonka seemed to delight and take relish in forcing Harry to learn something, which was a frightening concept when taking into account Harry knew virtually nothing. But the boy persevered and had learned in leaps and bounds (because it was far easier to learn something than it was to be punished and find himself fighting against chocolate acromantula and cream-filled dragons who shot out chocolate syrup. Oh sure, it was amusing the first time, when it was happening to someone else, but once in the ring against them, it wasn't chocolate that filled Harry's undergarments.)

No, this girl had caught Harry's interest, which was really quite different than what Mister Wonka had tried to train into him. The man had been beginning to think Harry played for the other team until he locked the boy in a room with a girl who had gotten lost on another tour (something Wonka found as an endless amusement when he let them roam one of his chocolate forests just to spook them) and left only a box of candies that had been filled with a very mild lust potion.

No, Harry thanked the man every time he saw him for a week straight after that. Too young to rape him, but being snogged nearly into a coma had worked wonders on the boy's confidence. Nothing like when the man did it with two girls, of course, but that first time would always be special to Harry. He learned he liked kissing and hugging. He just didn't like it with strangers unless he was potioned up.

But now, Harry followed the girl and took in her chocolate-brown eyes, he cocoa hair, her raspberry-cream lips and those perfect, dentist-created teeth, along with a muggle body, meaning no glamors and still attractive to the boy, and an obvious intelligence that Harry could never find in a girl his own age. He was more than intrigued, he realized, and he hadn't even spoken with her yet! When he saw her close the compartment door, he stepped forward after thirty seconds and opened it back up, gaining her attention.

"Hello, my dear. I was hoping you'd allow me the honor of your company as we go to Hogwarts together," Harry requested with a slight bow, hiding a grin as the girl blushed like cherry cordials and smiled, showing off those pearly-whites.

"Er, not at all. Please, have a seat. My name's Hermione Granger." She stuck out her hand, blushing brightly and looking nervous as he leaned forward and kissed her knuckles before sitting. Hermione really had no idea how to take this!

"And I am Harry Potter. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Hermione."

"Er, just Hermione is fine," the brunette said with a smile, absolutely thrilled to have made a friend. Her first! "Wait, Harry Potter? I've read about you!" She said, going wide-eyed at meeting a celebrity.

"Please, don't believe any of what you've read other than the three facts that Voldemort attacked, my parents died and I survived," Harry said with a sigh, confusing the girl.

"Huh? Why?"

"Because no one else was there that night," Harry explained. "I have no idea who began the rumors about surviving the killing curse, or how I've grown up since that night, but only those three facts can be confirmed in any way. And everything about how I grew up was a total fabrication. Until I was eight, it was hell, and then I've been studying like the Mad Hatter drinks tea the last three and a half years."

"Oh," Hermione said, checking facts in her mind. "Perhaps they had a way to tell what was cast at the time?" She asked. "I've only been aware of the wizarding world for roughly a year, so I'm not familiar with any forms of magical detection, but perhaps it's like the muggle world and they have ways to test for things like residue of spells or something."

"A possibility, but I've not much faith in the Ministry for Magic. Anyway, you said you've been aware of the magical world for about a year? Perhaps you'd like to discuss our school or the classes?" Harry pulled out a small bar of chocolate, the foil it was wrapped in keeping it from melting in his pocket. "Chocolate?"

Seeing Hermione look at the bar with both desire and that in-built desire to listen to her parents, Harry pulled out his hand from his other pocket, letting his voice take on a silky quality as he showed off drop-like nuggets of foil-wrapped chocolate. "Or perhaps you'd like a kiss?"

Hermione blushed, but accepted.

xXxXxXx

Shunk!

Harry and Hermione in the middle of a game of "show me yours and I'll show you mine", in regards to spells, of course, when the compartment door opened, revealing a blond boy with two brutish boys behind him. Harry immediately didn't like any of them.

"I've heard Harry Potter's on the train and I'm looking for him," the boy said pompously, sneering down at the two youths in front of him. Muggleborns, obviously.

"What do you want with Harry Potter?" Harry asked, quirking an eyebrow and wondering when he could get these three to leave. He was _trying_ to woo a girl here, thank you very much! _'Seriously, getting cockblocked during my first actual attempt to get a girlfriend? They had better have one hell of an excuse. This girl is too incredible to pass up on. Mister Wonka may not approve of the long-term bit, but I don't want anyone else to get her.'_ Harry had always admired the female body, usually finding himself preferring girls his own age over adults, though the adults had those wonderful additions. However, he preferred spending time with the older women, not because of their bodies, but because they could hold a conversation. This girl was his own age, which had him willing to get near her without problems, which was something no adult had been able to really get away with once he realized he had the option, and she held a conversation with him, which put her into a category far surpassing pretty much any girl he had ever spoken with that wasn't an adult or an Oompa Loompa, and even those he couldn't deal with for long.

Unaware of thoughts of murder going through the raven-haired one's head, the blond-haired one scoffed, even as he noticed the scar under the fringe of his hair. "You'll soon find out some families are better than others, Potter," Draco said with a smirk. "I can help you there. You have no need to sully yourself with this filth when you can be in the company of royalty. I'm Draco Malfoy of the Malfoy family. Obviously you've heard of us, everyone has. You may come to our compartment and enjoy yourself there."

"I'm rather fond of my traveling companion," Harry said, standing with a frown. "She's a lovely girl I _was_ enjoying my time with. Now, please leave so I may continue to enjoy my conversation with this radiant creature before I have you removed."

"Are you mad, Potter?" The Malfoy boy asked, actually looking as offended as he sounded.

"My faculties are quite intact, thank you," Harry said, his eyes narrowing. "Now please leave before you force me to summon your expedited removal."

"I'll have you know my father-"

Harry sighed and pulled out a silvery flute that stopped the boy mid-rant as Harry brought it to his lips and played a short tune that Hermione could _swear _she remembered from somewhere in the past.

Then, with a flash of light, there were five bright orange creatures in green overalls in the compartment with them and music, Hermione felt sure it was a bassoon, played from everywhere and nowhere at once as the creatures began to bob their bodies up and down and move around.

"**Oompa Loompa, Loompa-dy do! Stupid al-bi-no, you are so screwed!"**

"What the hell?" Draco and Hermione asked as one as the orange things converged on Draco and his tagalongs.

"**You've messed with our boss, and we don't. Like. It! It's up to us now, so we've decided to give you. The. Toss!"**

"Hey! Put me down! Do you know who I am!" Draco fought as him and his two grunts were bodily picked up and dragged down the hall. Had Harry and Hermione followed, they'd have found the orange men elected to torment the trio rather than simply remove them from Harry's compartment by stripping them and locking them in random trunks until they had finished a poker game, which just so happened to coincide with arrival at Hogwarts.

"What was that?" Hermione asked as the door shut.

"My Oompa Loompas," Harry said with a shrug. "Now, I believe you were about to tell me where your dentist parents work?" Harry asked, a curious glint in his eye.

xXxXxXx

"Potter, Harry!"

Harry smiled and walked up to the sorting stool with a literal bounce in his step. His new friend Hermione had wound up in Gryffindor, which was a bit of a shock considering the scary intellect on the girl, and it was obvious several of the faculty had been relieved to find him both alive and well. Apparently, his disappearance had been discovered the exact same day he had accepted Mister Wonka's offer and a worldwide manhunt had gone underway. He was unsure of what happened to the Dursleys, but thought he had heard something of a banishment to Hell.

Strange how they never thought to look in the same place he was last seen, but Mister Wonka had said it was to be expected. Wizards weren't likely to go somewhere muggle if they could help it by and large. Those who really searched had apparently been women hoping to marry the Potter boy, either themselves or daughters. Or granddaughters.

Wonka had not been pleased when one intelligent mother had actually found Harry for her son. That would apparently have ruined his plans for Harry, whatever they were. All he asked of Harry was to pass along his chocolates and live like Wonka himself, perhaps with a hostile takeover of the Hogsmeade candy shop.

Harry sat on the stool with a plop, pausing in putting it on his head as he held up a small box with a cherry-cream-filled cat to the Deputy Headmistress who took the item with both a blush and a scowl, only later to find out it also had the essence of catnip in the creme. Chuckling, he put the had onto his head, wondering if the older woman would like the libido-enhancement on it and the compulsion to find female company that night.

"_Ah, Mister Potter. Taking after your father, I see."_

Harry quirked an eyebrow. _'Not really, no. It's just my understanding that she's a stiff old broad and Mister Wonka says she needs to get laid and she'd probably loosen up a bit. It's likely to keep my stay here much more pleasant.'_

The sorting had was quiet for nearly a minute. _"I've never actually been disturbed by something before tonight."_

Harry nodded sympathetically. _'Kinda makes you wish you weren't bound by magical enchantments to keep everything you learn from me to yourself, huh?'_

"_Let's just get started, shall we? I'd say you're Slytherin material,"_ the had grumbled.

_'Ah, but you won't do that, we both know,'_ Harry said happily, enjoying flustering the ancient artifact. _'I'm likely to kill off quite a few of them should they prove to be a danger or the herd simply needs culling, which even _you _would have to admit is currently the case._ _How about my intelligence? I'm rather intelligent.'_

"_And so modest, too,"_ the hat grumped. _"You learned so you wouldn't get caramel in your pants. You don't seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge. While you may do well there, I get the feeling you'd end up with a harem of women just because you provided them with chocolates any time they had a test. You also seem to have a desire to make old Willy proud of you and ... Yes. I can see it now. You already plan on something along those lines, it seems."_

Harry scoffed and rolled his eyes. _'I have no interest in having a harem. What's the point of having all those women, honestly? Don't get me wrong. I am hoping to send Mister Wonka a Christmas card of myself in a Santa outfit with several scantily-clad-as-elves women, but that is just because he bet I wouldn't.'_

The hat chuckled aloud, disturbing a few students and shocking others. _"Mister Potter, I don't believe you would do anything with those girls. You already have your sights on ... how did you put it after the Malfoy boy left? Ah yes, 'the delectable Miss Granger', I believe."_

Harry blinked. He had thought he had learned occlumency well enough to block that. _"Well, what point would there be in that? I mean, I intend to form an army of loyal first years, possibly a few second years as well, and ensure I grab them each year after me. Why would I want a bunch of scantily-clad women catering to my every desire outside of pictures to the family?'_

Somehow, and McGonagall would spend the rest of her career at Hogwarts to discover how, the Sorting Hat raised an eyebrow and turned a rosy pink as it blushed. _"I never said anything about them being scantily-clad, Mister Potter, you did. You're superimposing Miss Granger into that Yule fantasy. I can see your memories and your active thoughts, as awkward as they are. I would greatly appreciate it if you could stop. This entire thing is awkward as it is. The last thing I need right now is learning what you intend to insinuate is merely a candy cane happy to see her."_

_'So, if Ravenclaw is out and Slytherin is out, that leaves one of two places,'_ Harry considered, wondering what the Hat would say to that. It had been nearly ten minutes already and people were beginning to fidget.

"_I suppose it doesn't matter,"_ the Hat said to him. _"Wherever I put you, you'll raise Hell anyway."_

_'True,'_ Harry agreed with a fiendish smirk that made the Weasley Twins feel very uncomfortable. Like someone had just ... danced over their graves in the moonlight, bathed in flowing rivers of chocolate. And they _hadn't_ died yet...

"Gryffindor!" The hat roared at long last. _"The last thing you need, Mister Potter, is a loyal Hufflepuff army in your quest for dominion over this world,"_ it said to him as it was being taken off of his head by an impatient McGonagall.

Harry went to sit at his table, taking the spot next to Hermione and watching some twins dance about like monkeys. _'I do believe this is a good fit.'_

"Harry!" Hermione squealed. "We're in the same House!"

"That we are, Miss Hermione," Harry said, smirking and winking at her. "It took me a while to argue with the hat, but I think it played out well enough," he said, giving the blushing girl a hug and then backing off. From this point forward, he would see if she chose to hug him back.

Some positive reinforcement in the way of chocolaty delights and maybe she would continue. He kind of enjoyed the hugging anyway.

xXxXxXx

Willy Wonka, in all his purple, green, red and yellow glory, set up a vendor cart filled with steaming hot chocolate, chocolate-covered bananas and still warm and gooey fudge in front of the large, glass window at the gym, smiling widely as those on the treadmills who saw him began to run faster and stare at his wares.

It really was the small things in life one had to cherish the most.

Of course, it was even better to set up shop outside the orphanages. When those in charge would demand he leave, even while dozens of unhappy and pleading eyes looked out the windows, he could offer his wares for free, thus providing a little joy, and grabbing new minions.

Human workers and their unions were a pain to deal with the normal ways, after all.

xXxXxXx

**[Final Author's Note:]** - If anyone wants to write omakes pertaining to various scenes along a line similar to this plot, I welcome you to send them. It will have to be Harry/Hermione/Luna or you can add other women, or just not show those two girls, at least, romantically inclined towards anyone else for the scene and I'll post them if I get enough (or add to this myself and add those.)


End file.
